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.