The 2018 election propelled a lot of new faces into the halls of Congress.
One of these new faces is Sen. Mike Braun, R-Ind., who ousted then-Sen. Joe Donnelly, D-Ind. Since his swearing in, he’s been hard at work.
A recently introduced bill, one he co-sponsored with Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., and eleven others is one that seeks to eliminate Congressional pensions.
For someone who ran on the platform of small government conservatism, this makes sense. If one believes that people ought to be paid what they’re worth, then these measures should be popular since most Americans polled by Gallup in recent years think Congress isn’t doing its job well. This is a major misstep.
Voters often denounce the degree of influence special interest groups and lobbyists yield in politics. A 2011 Gallup poll found that 71 percent thought so.
These policies make that situation much worse. Few run for office for the salary. However, a high salary and pension are justified for a position with such power.
Additionally, you should choose to pay your politicians, even your former ones, well. Policies like decent pensions are good in that they can marginally reduce former members of Congress from becoming lobbyists. Without the need to consider a career in lobbying post-Congress, politicians may even become more likely to cooperate.
This is where we must consider who is proposing this bill. Braun has an estimated net worth of somewhere above $35 million. Scott, alone, is worth $232 million, and if you add in his wife’s fortune, the Scott family may be worth over $500 million. They are rich, even among their generally wealthy colleagues.
This is not by accident. Braun is a man for whom a salary and pension would barely register as a drop in the bucket. Isn’t it odd to hear from him that he should earn less? It’s almost as if this proposal would affect his life in no tangible way at all.
This is on par for Braun. The first bill he sponsored in the Senate was one to halt the payment of salaries to members of Congressional if they didn’t pass a budget and all appropriations by Oct. 1.
This is another move which does little to fix anything. Cutting Congressional salaries in case of a shutdown will only make Congress more of a playground for the rich who don’t have to rely on those salaries.
Shutdowns are a problem but also a rarity. The issue is they are caused by the increased political polarization and gridlock in Congress today. Braun’s ideas would make this worse.
He has signed on to a constitutional amendment to institute term limits. This is a fix which seems to make sense but doesn’t. Some suggest term limits make politicians more accountable to the people but research shows that they don’t. Instead, they increase the power of party organizations causing increased polarization.
Braun wants to convince voters that in supporting these actions he will be their champion. But these bills are hardly the way to do it. Voters should refuse to accept cosmetic tweaks in place of structural reform.
Braun’s views of public policy seem to stem from a belief that a crippled, shrunken government is a good deal for the country. The truth is it is only good for people like Braun. His ideas made manifest would tear apart the very fabric of democracy. It would transform government from a body "of the people" to one that is "of the wealthy".
The fight for representation in Congress for those not uber-wealthy was a hard-fought one. In fact, it remains a hard fight today. Bills like the ones Mike Braun is proposing do nothing but impede the little progress that has been made. Don’t let their faux-populism entice you, because odds are, your democracy won’t be able to take it.
