Letter to the Editor: Congress Isn't Being Underpaid, America Is Being Shortchanged

To the Editor:

In a recent interview with Roll Call, Congressman Jim Moran from Virginia’s 8th District said that he thinks members of Congress are underpaid but also thinks it is widely felt that members of Congress underperform.

We the people want to know which is it. Are they underperforming and deserve to be underpaid or performing well and underpaid?

While they shouldn’t have it both ways, they have been for decades at taxpayer expense! Moran and his fellow members of Congress make $174,000 a year, which puts them in the top 2%.

Compared to the median income of $111,455 in his own district in 2010, Moran is overpaid. Does he really think he deserves a raise at a time when he already makes more than his average constituent who has a job, to say nothing of those who don’t?

This is not an example of leadership that listens. Instead, this is another example of why big government policies keep expanding the income inequality gap in America.

While many constituents in the 8th District live paycheck-to-paycheck, Moran uses his seat in Congress to make his personal paycheck an issue.

This is exactly why I decided to run for Congress — to work with Republicans and Democrats alike to make the federal government get its fiscal house in order, so that it can focus on the people’s priorities, rather than on more wasteful government spending.

The people’s priorities I am fighting for are growing our economy, strengthening our middle class, investing in our public infrastructure and future generations and preserving our national security.

Please start a movement this November to elect outsiders who will focus on the people’s priorities. Members like Jim Moran can’t keep having it both ways. Congress isn’t being underpaid. America is being shortchanged. Let’s remember that in November.

Micah Edmond
Candidate, U.S. Congress
Virginia’s 8th Congressional District