Ocasio-Cortez announces staff starting salary of $52K to champion ‘living wage’
Freshman Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) announced this week that no one on her staff would make less than $52,000 a year, a move aimed at championing a “living wage.”
The progressive firebrand’s policy creates an unheard of salary for young House staffers in Washington, D.C., where the average rent is more than $2,000 a month, Roll Call reported Friday.
“It’s likely one of the highest entry-level salaries on the Hill,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote on Twitter. “We pinch pennies elsewhere, but it’s worth every dime to pay a living wage.”
Leadership starts with our choices.
That’s why I decided that no one on my staff will make less than $52k/year.
It’s likely one of the highest entry-level salaries on the Hill. We pinch pennies elsewhere, but it’s worth every dime to pay a living wage.https://t.co/IxfNH4632h
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) February 22, 2019
Ocasio-Cortez’s communications director, Corbin Trent, told the outlet that salaries for the congresswoman’s office would top out at $80,000 — well below the $154,634 median wage, according to a Legistorm analysis of congressional chiefs of staffs.{mosads}
Some Ocasio-Cortez staffers might be required to take pay cuts, Trent acknowledged. He is making $67,000 a year and has two children.
“Is it easy? No,” he said. “But part of walking the walk is understanding that everyone is going to have a little bit of a struggle. You divide it up. You work together.”
Ocasio-Cortez announced in December that she would also pay her interns at least $15 an hour.
The lawmaker wrote on Twitter that she was facing pushback from people who didn’t understand how congressional salaries work.
“Each member is given a set amount that they disburse. GOP has refused to increase budgets in years to give hard-working staff a raise, which means people helping to run the country are getting paid $30k/year,” she wrote.
The New Yorker said it was “pretty sad” who people thought the low salaries were a good thing.
“Low pay a big reason why money in politics is a problem – you can make a lot more money becoming a lobbyist & setting up a relationship w/ one, since the actual job doesn’t pay enough,” she wrote. “Domino effect.”
It’s pretty sad that people think low Congressional staff pay is a good thing.
Low pay a big reason why money in politics is a problem – you can make a lot more money becoming a lobbyist & setting up a relationship w/ one, since the actual job doesn’t pay enough.
Domino effect.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) February 23, 2019
Her office has not yet finished hiring, but Trent told Roll Call that hiring will likely cap out at 18 staff members, the congressional limit.
Ocasio-Cortez has previously called for lawmakers in Congress to increase pay for members of their staff, stating that some don’t make a living wage.
In December, she wrote that she had met several bartenders, managers and servers in D.C. who also work in Senate or House offices.
“This is a disgrace. Congress of ALL places should raise [Members’ Representational Allowances] so we can pay staff an actual DC living wage,” Ocasio-Cortez, a rising star on the left, wrote in a tweet.
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