Surely Congress has better things to do
January 20th 2007 04:01
I read a story yesterday on ESPN.com about how a Georgia congressman voted against a resolution that...
What stood out to me was not that the congressman voted against this resolution. What stood out to me was the fact that our well-paid elected officials spend time on useless, trivial activities like this. How long did this vote take? What was gained from this vote? What was done after the vote was taken?
I then started to think how much this crucial piece of work was costing us taxpayers. I used to be a pricing analyst in a former life, so I know a little bit about activity-based cost allocation. Let me walk through this one.
Salary of each Rep: About $165K/year (not including benefits, of course)
Total hours worked per year per Rep: 2000 hours (assuming 50 weeks at 40 hours/wk)
Cost per hour to the taxpayer: $82.50 (165,000 divided by 2000)
Now, let's assume that it took each legislator 15 minutes to read this resolution and vote on it. If the cost per hour is $82.50, then the cost per quarter hour is around $20.60.
So...it cost the taxpayers around $20.60 per Representative for the time it took to pass this resolution. (NOTE: I'm not allocating the cost of building upkeep or office supplies to this activity. I want to keep it simple.)
Now, let's see how many Representatives voted on this. According to the online record for this resolution, 418 Representatives voted yea, nay, or present on this. At a cost of $20.60 per Representative per quarter hour, that vote cost the taxpayers about $8600. $8600 for an "attaboy" to the Florida Gators for winning a ball game.
Do you think we got our money's worth as taxpayers? No. No, we didn't.
And how many more of these bills or resolutions gum up Congress' workday? I don't have the answer, but I'm sure that it is a lot. They do this whenever a national championship is won. They frequently do this when someone dies. They do this in order to recognize civic groups.
Listen, I know that voting on bills and resolutions such as this is a long-time tradition, but I just think that Congress could and should be doing more important things. They could spend more time working through the tough problems that they are so loathe to tackle (e.g., social security and immigration). They could spend more time meeting with constituents. They could spend more time hammering out compromises on bills. There are a lot of activities that are more worthy of $8600 than a trivial resolution patting a football champion on the back. I love football, too, but come on. The world will not stop turning if these resolutions stop getting introduced.
So keep that in mind, Congressmen and Congresswomen, the next time you think about authoring a resolution that is insignificant to your constituents and to the country as a whole. Start finding more constructive ways to spend your time. You're smart people -- I'm sure you can do it.
commended "the University of Florida Gators for their victory in the 2006 Bowl Championship Series (BCS) and for winning the national college football championship."
What stood out to me was not that the congressman voted against this resolution. What stood out to me was the fact that our well-paid elected officials spend time on useless, trivial activities like this. How long did this vote take? What was gained from this vote? What was done after the vote was taken?
I then started to think how much this crucial piece of work was costing us taxpayers. I used to be a pricing analyst in a former life, so I know a little bit about activity-based cost allocation. Let me walk through this one.
Salary of each Rep: About $165K/year (not including benefits, of course)
Total hours worked per year per Rep: 2000 hours (assuming 50 weeks at 40 hours/wk)
Cost per hour to the taxpayer: $82.50 (165,000 divided by 2000)
Now, let's assume that it took each legislator 15 minutes to read this resolution and vote on it. If the cost per hour is $82.50, then the cost per quarter hour is around $20.60.
So...it cost the taxpayers around $20.60 per Representative for the time it took to pass this resolution. (NOTE: I'm not allocating the cost of building upkeep or office supplies to this activity. I want to keep it simple.)
Now, let's see how many Representatives voted on this. According to the online record for this resolution, 418 Representatives voted yea, nay, or present on this. At a cost of $20.60 per Representative per quarter hour, that vote cost the taxpayers about $8600. $8600 for an "attaboy" to the Florida Gators for winning a ball game.
Do you think we got our money's worth as taxpayers? No. No, we didn't.
And how many more of these bills or resolutions gum up Congress' workday? I don't have the answer, but I'm sure that it is a lot. They do this whenever a national championship is won. They frequently do this when someone dies. They do this in order to recognize civic groups.
Listen, I know that voting on bills and resolutions such as this is a long-time tradition, but I just think that Congress could and should be doing more important things. They could spend more time working through the tough problems that they are so loathe to tackle (e.g., social security and immigration). They could spend more time meeting with constituents. They could spend more time hammering out compromises on bills. There are a lot of activities that are more worthy of $8600 than a trivial resolution patting a football champion on the back. I love football, too, but come on. The world will not stop turning if these resolutions stop getting introduced.
So keep that in mind, Congressmen and Congresswomen, the next time you think about authoring a resolution that is insignificant to your constituents and to the country as a whole. Start finding more constructive ways to spend your time. You're smart people -- I'm sure you can do it.
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