Congressman: We Can't Live 'Decently' on $174K

Brave? Politically tone deaf? You pick: Democrat James Moran of Virginia says he and his fellow representatives in Congress are in dire need of a raise. “I think the American people should know that the members of Congress are underpaid,” Moran tells Roll Call. “I understand that it’s widely felt that they underperform, but the fact is that this is the board of directors for the largest economic entity in the world.” Moran noted that some members live out of their offices to avoid DC's steep prices, even on salaries of $174,000.

“Our pay has been frozen for three years and we’re planning on freezing it a fourth year," he says. "A lot of members can’t even afford to live decently in Washington." He plans to introduce an amendment to remedy the problem, reports the Washington Post, but acknowledges it doesn't have much of a chance. In the meantime, he's opened himself up to shots like this from Wonkette: "Dude, you do know that if you were actually the board of directors for a ginormous company, approximately 9/10 of you would be fired for incompetence and the remainder of you would only be kept on as figureheads while a competent CEO and CFO did all the actual work, right?" (More James Moran stories.)