[Newgy]

The one way to ensure that all Congressmen are millionaires is to take away their pay. Honestly, the salary is already too small, they have to maintain a second residence in DC, which is one of the most expensive real estate markets in the country. In all seriousness, $174,000 is not enough money to support a family in a middle class lifestyle in DC. A townhouse in a safe neighborhood is $5,000/month, most of the public schools are terrible and the private schools expensive, and the local taxes are extremely high.

Also lawmakers can't spend their campaign warchests on personal items.

[WettowelReactor]

Complete FUD. I live in the DC region and dont need nearly this much to be comfortable with my family. Now if I wanted to live in a prime spot downtown and forgo any commute or other compromises that would be a different story but I see no reason why our tax dollars should support congress living like rockstars.

[zero_intp]

This is complete FUD. My wife and I make ~100k, and live inside the beltway, quite comfortably, within a 30 minute drive to Capitol Hill.

Fairfax and Montgomery County have some of the highest rated public schools in the nation.

[lcapaldo]

Do you also maintain a home in the state that you actually represent? This might be FUD (I don't know) but saying that you do fine with less money isn't indicative of anything if you aren't doing the same thing.