“The spendthrift character of congress”

Carmel Pine Cone – June 28, 2024, Not Published

Few people have ready access to the spendthrift character of the US Congress, an entity of our government that constantly polls very low regarding public trust.  We on the Peninsula are fortunate to have a very important resource for such information in the person of The Pine Cone’s Kelly Nix.  In this week’s edition (June 21) Mr Nix informs us of a program implemented by Congress last year that allows Congress members to submit expense claims for reimbursement without receipts.  Not surprisingly both Democrats, as well as Republicans voted enthusiastically for this bill.  This is at a time when a nearly $36 trillion national debt calls for the most intense accounting for all government spending. Does any private citizen think for a moment that they would fare well in an IRS audit without expense receipts?

Congressmen in the early 19th century were expected to serve with a sense of sacrifice for duty’s sake.  In fact, lodgings in Washington DC at that time were so scarce,  as well as often quite primitive, that it was not uncommon for Congressmen to have to share not only spare rooms but sometimes even beds.  In Mr Nix’s article, our own Congressman, James Panetta, is reported to have received $15,455 in reimbursement for his expenditures.  Panetta proudly proclaims that his costs were “in the bottom half” of all Congressional reimbursements.  That’s admirable, Jim, but with a salary of $174,000 per year, and with a wife earning some $200,000 per year (the lookups are a bit vague on this) as a Monterey County Superior Court judge, it seems to me that a bit of 19th Century sense of sacrifice might go a long way towards cementing your fealty to your constituents, considering that the per capita income in your district is only $62,519.  Why, even Donald Trump donated most, if not all of his presidential salary to the national parks and federal health programs.  The nobility of service has no bounds of party or time.

  Richard S. Hellam, Seaside