[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 9 (Wednesday, January 24, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E78-E79]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           OUR 2 CENTS' WORTH

                                 ______


                         HON. JOHN CONYERS, JR.

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, January 24, 1996

  Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, yesterday marked the first day workplace 
and civil rights 

[[Page E79]]
laws have been applied to this body. Now Congress is required to play 
by the same rules as everyone else.
  But there is still at least one special exception the Congressional 
Accountability Act did not eliminate: Congress gets paid during Federal 
shutdowns while other Federal employees do not.
  We can clear up this matter by passing H.R. 2658, a bill I introduced 
which would suspend Member's salaries during Federal shutdowns and 
furloughs. It is only fair that Congress be treated like every other 
Federal employee. If we are serious about playing by the same rules 
that govern everyone else, we need to pass this now.
  On January 3, 1996, Carol Ann Rinzler and Perry Luntz wrote an 
excellent and eloquent article for the New York Times which accurately 
describes this problem. I have enclosed it below so all of my 
colleagues can better understand the magnitude of this issue:

                [From the New York Times, Jan. 3, 1996]

                           Our 2 Cents' Worth

                 (By Carol Ann Rinzler and Perry Luntz)

       Almost exactly a year ago, Congress passed the 
     Congressional Accountability Act, a much ballyhooed measure 
     that requires the House and Senate to abide by the workplace 
     and civil rights laws they enact for the rest of us. Alas, 
     like so many things in life, this long-overdue legislation 
     turns out to be less than meets the eye.
       In an effort to minimize the effects of the Government 
     shutdown on their constituents, Republicans in the House 
     proposed last week that furloughed Federal employees go back 
     to work without being paid, surely a new idea in free-market, 
     conservative economics.
       Afterward, someone asked Representative Tom DeLay of Texas, 
     the House majority whip, whether he would consider giving up 
     his own salary during the crisis. No way, said Mr. DeLay, 
     explaining that, like every other member of Congress, he 
     isn't a Federal employee--he is a ``constitutional officer.''
       Well, we've reread our copy of the Constitution, and 
     frankly the distinction seems a bit arcane to us.
       True, members of Congress are specifically mentioned in the 
     Constitution, Article I, Section 6 says that ``Senators and 
     Representatives shall receive a compensation for their 
     services, to be ascertained by law and paid out of the 
     Treasury of the United States.'' Cabinet members and Federal 
     judges also get a mention, later on, but other workers--
     curators at the Smithsonian, say--do not.
       But every Federal paycheck originates in an appropriation 
     requiring money from the Treasury, whose funds come, in large 
     part, from income taxes. That should give everyone of us the 
     inalienable right to put in our 2 cents. Or to take it out.
       Members of the House and Senate earn a base salary of 
     $133,600 a year (those in leadership positions get more.) And 
     don't forget the generous benefit package: life insurance, 
     health insurance, per diem travel and a nifty pension. Mr. 
     DeLay's base salary alone costs each of America's more than 
     115 million individual taxpayers 1.2 cents a year.
       As conscientious citizens, we have always paid our taxes, 
     regardless of our political gripes. Even though one of us was 
     tear-gassed in 1971 by an overzealous guard at the Nixon 
     White House, protecting it from throngs of balding, middle-
     aged Vietnam War protesters and their children, the Internal 
     Revenue Service got paid the following year anyway.
       This time, however, we plan to draw a line in the sand. 
     Having voted to obey its own laws, members of Congress should 
     be man (or woman) enough to live up to that requirement. 
     Before Tom DeLay votes for trimming Medicare, he should 
     whittle down his own Government-financed health insurance. If 
     he expects Federal workers to show up for free, so should he.
       Until then, he can forget our helping to pay his salary. 
     Come April 15, our joint tax return will be 2 cents short. 
     That ought to send a message: keeping Congress in line is a 
     hard job, but somebody has to do it.

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