Democratic Representative Says Congress Needs A Pay Raise — Claims $174,000 Per Year Leads To ‘Sackcloth And Ashes’ [Video]

Democratic Representative of Florida Alcee Hastings has been notoriously known for statements made in the past, especially towards conservative views and entities. Once such example is when he called Texas, a prominently conservative state, “crazy,” as reported by the Inquisitr.

Now, Alcee Hastings is at it again, making statements that are causing quite a debate. This time, however, he isn’t attacking conservatives, but complaining about his paycheck. From what has been reported, Hastings claims Congress needs a pay raise or very soon, its members will live in “sackcloth and ashes.” What is more debilitating is when people find out that a Congressmen makes an average of $174,000 annually.

According to Roll Call, Alcee Hastings made a case for raising salaries for members of Congress on Monday, May 18, 2015. Hastings used the high cost of living in Washington D.C. for his reasoning.

“Members deserve to be paid, staff deserves to be paid and the cost of living here is causing serious problems for people who are not wealthy to serve in this institution. We aren’t being paid properly.”

Now to be fair, Congress has been on a freeze on member pay, initiated back in 2010. Since then, inflation, along with the devalued dollar, has taken effect, which James P. Moran, a Democratic Congressman from Virginia, took notice last year. He pitched a “very modest” housing stipend to help cover the increasing costs of living in the district. Moran came up with $25 per day the House is in session which equates to $2,800. That is technically not too bad.

With Alcee Hastings however, he provided no framework on how much the raise should be. Therefore it could be to the thousands, tens of thousands, or hundreds of thousands. Maybe the reason why no framework was provided is because Hastings did not file an amendment to raise member pay because he believes it would not pass. Instead, Hastings complained that at least Congress could get a tax credit.

IJReview was able to provide a video of when Alcee Hastings made the statement regarding the Congress getting a pay raise. It can be viewed below.

[Image via Doug Benc/Getty]