Congress should make sacrifices

The debt commission has leaked some of its recommendations to cut our spending and reduce our debt. It has said that we will all have to share in the sacrifice of cutting spending. I say one place we should make drastic cuts is in our congressional salaries, pensions and benefits.

The average salary of a private citizen is $50,000. The salary of a member of Congress is over $170,000. Their pensions are a defined benefit. Most of our retirement accounts are a defined contribution and are dependent on what we contribute and on the stock market. They have the best medical benefits known to man. We are upping our co-pay and our deductible to get our rates as low as possible. They get more paid days off than any of us, by far. Do they really work for us?

The Washington ruling class are responsible for the mess we are in. Let them make the first sacrifice. Stop all congressional pensions immediately, make them pay for their own health insurance and cut their pay to the average wage of Americans who are paying their salary.

Please call your senators and representatives, and tell them they should make the first sacrifice.

I'm all for shared sacrifice. Let's just start with Congress.

LINDA REUTZEL, Cape Girardeau