Legislative Pay Quotes

In my experience, only third-rate intelligence is sent to Legislatures to make laws, because the first-rate article will not leave important private interests go unwatched to go and serve the public for a beggarly four or five dollars a day, and a miserably trivial distinction

You want to balance the budget in this country? We change the salary structure for Congress and the President. Every year they don't balance the budget, we don't pay them.

Harry Reid and the Senate haven't passed a budget. Their pay should be reduced until they do.

Members of Congress are incredibly blessed and fortune to have the jobs that we have. Nobody makes us run. Every two years we offer for public office, and if you don't want to do it then don't run. But the notion that you can make $174,000 in this country and be underpaid is laughable.

One of the biggest mistakes of the Constitution is the provision that lets Congressman set their own salaries …. These should be set by the home state which they represent based on their perception of the worth of the representative.

This is the people's money, and we need to use it on their priorities. Increasing the pay of members of Congress is not their priority.

In Illinois, where legislators are paid $45,000, plus as much as $10,000 for leadership work, about half are full-time politicians.

The salary of a member of Congress ends the day that he of she leaves office.

No law varying the compensation for the services of the Senators and Representatives shall take effect, until and election of Representatives shall have intervened.

Some members of Congress now are complaining they are underpaid. They want to propose a pay raise. You can't blame them. A lot of them took a big income hit when Enron folded.