Just the Facts from Senator Tom Coburn

With great fanfare, Congress recently passed legislation requiring that all new spending be offset with spending reductions or tax increases (known as PAYGO). In the three weeks since the Senate passed the new requirement, it has voted to ignore its own rules by passing $120 billion in new spending without the necessary spending offsets.

Congress increased its own internal budget by 10.9 percent in 2009 and six percent for 2010. Congress appropriated $4.7 billion to run itself this year. This amount includes several special earmarks: $4 million for consultants to party leadership and select support offices, a $500,000 pilot program for senators to advertise their upcoming town hall appearances by mailing postcards to constituents, and a $200,000 earmark from the chairman of a key appropriations committee to a museum digitization project focusing on the development of Nebraska and the West.

Congressional operations now occupy 16.5 million square feet of building space. It has increased its building space by more than 4 million square feet since 1980. The recent addition of the Capitol Visitors Center (CVC) added nearly 600,000 square feet.

Originally projected to cost $71 million ($368 million by the time construction began), the recently completed CVC actually cost $621 million. Slated to be open by the 2005 Presidential Inauguration, it eventually opened in late 2008.

The Legislative Branch employs nearly 30,000 people in Washington, DC.

When traveling for official duty outside the United States, Members of Congress are given hundreds of dollars in daily per diem. Recent media investigations reveal that Members rarely return leftover funds and instead spend them for personal benefit and on things such as travel gifts. When asked by about the practice, a prominent House member remarked: "You are all concerned about nickels and dimes, and I'm not."

According to the Government Accountability Office, cafeterias in the Senate operated with a profit for only 7 of their 44 years. They lost more than $18 million between 1993 and 2008, including nearly $2 million in 2008. GAO concluded: “financially breaking even has not been the objective…due to an expectation that the restaurants will operate at a deficit annually.” Despite considerable controversy, these operations have recently been privatized.

Pay raises for Members of Congress automatically go into effect each year unless there is a successful vote to suspend them. Congress voted to suspend the 2010 pay raise, but gladly accepted the $4,700 pay raise in 2009, which cost an excess of $2.5 million to fund.

In 1990, the salary for senators was $98,400 and $96,600 for representatives. Pay currently stands at $174,000, with party leadership receiving additional amounts.