Congress gets Paid during Gov't Shutdown --- Why?

Rebels Without a Clue (Paul Krugman) "So how does the government shutdown end? Ironically, considering who got us into our economic mess, the most plausible answer is that Wall Street will come to the rescue — that the big money will tell Republican leaders that they have to put an end to the nonsense. But what if even the plutocrats lack the power to rein in the radicals?"

800,000 workers are being laid off without pay (of the 2 million non-defense federal workers, not counting post office employees).

Military personnel, barring congressional action, would have their paychecks put on hold while they continue to work. Death benefits for military families will also be delayed. And the Department of Veterans Affairs says it will run out of funding for regular payment checks after only a few weeks. Although the VA will continue to provide medical care, disability payments may also be disrupted after a few weeks. (More details of how the shutdown will affect our troops and Veterans.)

Also, the special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (otherwise known as WIC), and Meals on Wheels for the elderly are also at risk.

But the multi-millionaire members of Congress will still be getting paid. So why would this be considered "essential" government spending? They work part-time, are always on vacation, and spend most of their time fund-raising.

Asked if when the government reopen, would they support back pay for laid off federal workers, Republican senators Richard Burr (R-N.C.), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) and Tim Scott (R-S.C.) raised concerns about government debt, and said it was too early for them to make a determination...while Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) said he "probably" would support the move. (Members of Congress are guaranteed to get paid regardless.)

Meanwhile, members of Congressmen are still boozing, while so many others will suffer.

Evidently, according to members of Congress, what's good for the goose is NOT good for the gander --- whether its pay during government shutdowns, healthcare mandates, cost of living adjustments, payroll taxes or income tax rates.

The government shutdown, brought on by the House in an attempt to defund and/or delay Obamacare in exchange for passing a continuing resolution to find the government, had a backroom deal:

Publicly, John Boehner was asking other members of Congress on the House floor, “Why don’t we make sure that every American is treated just like we are?” Boehner had been posturing for the C-SPAN cameras to prohibit members of Congress and Capitol Hill aides from getting thousands of dollars in subsidies for their health insurance as they joined the Obamacare-mandated insurance exchanges.

Yet, behind-the-scenes, Boehner and his aides had worked for months with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and others to save these subsidies.

According to several sources in attendance in a July meeting with Harry Reid [in the middle of the night in a dark and dank garbage-ridden back alley] John Boehner had wondered aloud whether he and Reid could quietly slip some language into a bill to "end the problem" without it receiving any public attention [so that average hard-working and poor Americans wouldn't gather their torches and pitchforks and storm the congressional ramparts].

ALSO: The lowest paid member of Congress rakes in $174,000 a year from the taxpayers, but every member of Congress has their Social Security taxes capped at $113,700. Half the members of Congress are millionaires --- and own stocks and pay capital gains taxes, which has a 23.8% tax rate and is a lower tax rate than regular hard-working peons Americans who earn between $36,250 to $87,850 a year (which is taxed at 25%).

ALSO: Many members of Congress (mostly Republicans, but some Democrats as well) are considering chained-CPI as an alternative way to calculate the cost-of-living-adjustment (COLA) for Social Security retirees and the disabled, which would cut their monthly benefits going forward --- but the same method of calculating their COLAS on their huge taxpayer-paid congressional salaries would NOT apply.

Tell the Tea Party to Take a Seat!

For the first time in seventeen years, the United States government has shut down. Hundreds of thousands of families across this nation will be hurt by the inaction of a few politicians who have successfully hijacked their own party. The Tea Party Republicans, led by Senator Ted Cruz, were able to close the doors of Congress, over their disagreement with the Affordable Care Act; a law that will provide health care for millions of Americans who have been living their lives in fear of getting sick. When the history books are written, this law will prove to be a turning point that pointed our nation towards a more compassionate America, a country that no longer only took care of the privileged, but rather took care of all of its people. Republican or Democrat, if you're American, you should want to take care of your brother and your sister.