Perry letter to Congress urges them to halve their salaries

During Monday’s televised debate in South Carolina, he interjected as Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum debated a point about felons’ voting rights, by saying, “This is a great example of the insiders that are having the conversation up here … Washington, D.C., needs to leave the states alone.”

{mosads}However, this line of attack does not appear to have gotten much traction. Perry is in single digits both in national polls and in polls in South Carolina, which holds its primary Saturday.

In addition to halving the salaries of House members and senators, Johnson’s bill would also limit the number of congressional days in session to five per month, or 60 business days per session. For every five days that Congress exceeded the 60-day limit, member salaries would be cut by a further 10 percent.

Johnson, who acknowledges that his bill took its inspiration from Perry’s call for a “part-time Congress,” also suggests that members should be permitted to take second jobs, so long as those jobs do not involve cashing in on their status.

In a recent interview with an Illinois newspaper, The News-Gazette, Johnson noted that during a 24-year career in the state legislature, he had at various points been a practicing lawyer and an ice-cream store proprietor.

“Until I went to Congress, I operated in the private sector,” he told the paper. “I know what it’s like to make a living and to make dollars and spend dollars.”

The bill is not expected to pass, as even Johnson has admitted.