Yeah, another letter to the editor in the Knox paper.
Congress' pay raise - _ what they deserve? I must admit that I've never been much of an admirer of U.S. Sen. Bill Frist, but I have to agree whole-heartedly with his recent statement quoted in the News Sentinel regarding U.S. senators allowing themselves yet another annual pay raise: "I think that our representatives of government deserve a pay raise consistent with the work that we've produced."
This time, Frist is right on the mark. In fact, in this era of scarce federal funding for everything except Middle East military adventures, I think it's time to implement a rigorously conservative program to bring the congressional pay-and-benefit package in line with what these representatives have provided for the American people.
To accomplish this goal, we should first send about half of the senators' jobs to overseas contractors who might charge the taxpayers less than $150,000 per year for the privilege of taking large sums from campaign contributors in exchange for handing those contributors even larger sums out of the taxpayers' pockets.
Next, we should let the senators draw straws to see which 16 of them would get to live without health insurance for the next year. It wouldn't have to be the same 16 every year, but that's the percentage of American citizens who live without health insurance, thanks to congressional opposition to a universal program.
As the percentage of Americans losing health insurance continues to rise, we should expect another senator or two per year to give up coverage. In light of Congress' recent service to the American public and following Frist's advice, such a program would only be fair.
STAN IVESTER
Knoxville
This time, Frist is right on the mark. In fact, in this era of scarce federal funding for everything except Middle East military adventures, I think it's time to implement a rigorously conservative program to bring the congressional pay-and-benefit package in line with what these representatives have provided for the American people.
To accomplish this goal, we should first send about half of the senators' jobs to overseas contractors who might charge the taxpayers less than $150,000 per year for the privilege of taking large sums from campaign contributors in exchange for handing those contributors even larger sums out of the taxpayers' pockets.
Next, we should let the senators draw straws to see which 16 of them would get to live without health insurance for the next year. It wouldn't have to be the same 16 every year, but that's the percentage of American citizens who live without health insurance, thanks to congressional opposition to a universal program.
As the percentage of Americans losing health insurance continues to rise, we should expect another senator or two per year to give up coverage. In light of Congress' recent service to the American public and following Frist's advice, such a program would only be fair.
STAN IVESTER
Knoxville