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12-05-2013, 10:47 PM #1
Rep. Jim Cooper: End death pay to lawmaker spouses
http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-actio...wmaker-spouses
Rep. Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.) this week proposed legislation that would ban the practice of paying "death gratuities" to the survivors of deceased members of Congress.
Cooper's bill comes just weeks after Congress approved legislation paying a $174,000 gratuity to the widow of Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.). That payment rankled deficit hawks, as Lautenberg was worth something north of $50 million.
Cooper told The Hill on Saturday that regardless of the financial situation of the deceased member, Congress should no longer be in the business of making these payments.
"The death gratuity became customary starting in 1918 before the birth of modern life insurance (1924), the creation of Social Security (1935), the establishment of civil service pensions (1942), and health benefits under Medicare (1965)," Cooper said. "A lot has changed since 1918, and the gratuity custom should have been abandoned a long time ago.
"Members should choose the death benefit they want by buying life insurance like regular citizens. No special treatment for Congress."
In September, Congress approved a $174,000 payment to Lautenberg's widow as part of a short-term spending bill. That payment was criticized by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), which said the payment makes no sense at a time when other funding priorities are seeing cuts.
"The average member of Congress is much wealthier than the average citizen, and has sufficient resources to purchase life insurance and otherwise plan ahead," CREW wrote. "While there is reasonable debate about congressional compensation, a death gratuity is unseemly and unnecessary. When you look at what Congress should be prioritizing, it is outrageous."
But while the payments are seen as outrageous by some, those who support making a change will likely have to overcome a great deal of institutional inertia in Congress. Cooper's bill has no congressional cosponsors as of this week.
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12-06-2013, 02:18 PM #2
I actually saw this several weeks ago. Long gone are the days where politicians serve because they love their country or feel a sense of duty.
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