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Axios STORIES Shane SavitskyNov 28 The perks of being a member of Congress The joint session of Congress during President Obama's 2016 State of the Union address. Photo: Susan Walsh / AP Members of Congress are granted policies, benefits, and perks that grant them privileges denied in most other workplaces. In yesterday's lead item in Axios AM, Mike Allen touched on John Boehner's in-office smoking as an example — allowed, according to the N.Y. Times, thanks to Congress' supremacy over District of Columbia law. Why it matters: With prior sexual misconduct on the Hill slowly coming to light, legislators are likely to face a reckoning from their constituents on the "old way" of doing things that allowed cultural rot and excess to be swept under the rug for so many years. Show less The pressure point: Taxpayer-paid settlements in sexual-harassment cases. The perks: Members get annual allowances (averaging $1.27 million in the House and $3.3 million in the Senate) to staff and manage their offices almost entirely as they see fit, as well as for travel and other expenses.The House has averaged 138 legislative days each year since 2001, and the Senate 162. The job requires long days, and members are often active in their districts when not in session, but how many jobs give their employees over 6 months to plan and schedule entirely as they see fit?While members of Congress are required to purchase insurance via an Affordable Care Act exchange, they receive a federal subsidy amounting to 72% of their premiums, per Snopes. (Democrats say it's a stand-in for the employer contribution most workers get.) They're also potentially eligible for lifetime health insurance p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 36.0px; text-indent: -36.0px; line-height: 18.0px; font: 14.0px Helvetica; color: #5a5858; -webkit-text-stroke: #5a5858; background-color: #ffffff} span.s1 {font-kerning: none} under the Federal Employees Health Benefit Program upon retirement.Depending on age and length of service, members can receive a lifelong pension of 80% — which, given today's congressional salary of $174,000, equals out to $139,200 in annual taxpayer-funded retirement benefits, per Investopedia.Upon the death of a member of Congress in office, their family will receive a payout equal to a year's salary ($174,000), per Congressional Institute. The one-time death gratuity for families of military personnel killed in action is $100,000.Members of Congress have access to free, reserved parking spots at DC-area airports, a dedicated congressional call desk with major airlines and the ability to reserve seats on multiple flights but only pay for the flight boarded.Our nation's legislators get a slew of lifetime benefits even after leaving office, including a taxpayer-funded gym at the Capitol, access to the House and Senate floors, parking in House lots, and the ability to dine in the House and Senate dining rooms, per The Washington Post. Think about it: Lifetime access to an exclusive circle means you're likely to remain in that circle, further removing former members of Congress from the experiences of everyday Americans. Axios1 hour ago

Not only term limits but no benefits thereafter. They're regular citizens with no special extras. Go back to real life.

Any news relative to Abadi's visit to the U.S.? Any correlation because of these being close in occurrence?

God promises in the Bible that He hears and responds to our prayers. In 1 John 5:14 it says, “And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.” Jesus, we lift an urgent plea for those directly in the path of this hurricane. You calmed the Sea of Galilee with a couple words. You have the power to calm any storm in our lives. Protect people who are in harm’s way, provide ways out and safe places to stay while the storm rages. Keep loved ones, pets, and rescue workers safe from harm. In your saving name we pray, Amen.

Bo agree! Dinarvets needs an AMEN emoji for preach it! 😁

My god daughter was diagnosed pre-diabetic. She's on a keto program, has lost over 100 #s and looks awesome. Dr is really pleased with her progress and continues to limit carbs to veggies only carbs (no potatoes etc), protein, fats, fruits etc. No bread, cereal, grains and definitely no sugar. She's never looked so good and I'm very proud of her. Dr. monitors her regularly and changes program as needed.

OPINION | WHITE HOUSE September 06, 2018 - 08:30 AM EDT Bob Woodward's sad failure BY NEWT GINGRICH, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR5 The views expressed by contributors are their own and not the view of The HillTWEET SHARE MORE Bob Woodward’s new book, “Fear: Trump in the White House,” is a sad, lost opportunity. It will sell a lot of copies, as anti-Trumpers buy it to enjoy the continuous stream of anti-Trump anecdotes and vignettes. However, as a bestselling anti-Trump diatribe, Woodward adds little to our understanding of President Trump and his White House.There already are a number of left-wing, anti-Trump books. Every day, liberal reporters hunt for proof of alleged Trump White House dysfunction. Woodward is merely the most famous left-wing, anti-Trump writer. Yet, Woodward could have been much more. Woodward has the prestige and the reputation that could have allowed him to write a serious book trying to understand how the Trump system actually works (because the deep secret the Washington liberal media keep hiding from is that the Trump system actually does work). We are in a time of two competing universes for our politics and governance. Woodward could have bridged this gap with a serious book. Of course, his left-wing friends (and the entire Georgetown cocktail party crowd) would have been enraged by a book that took President Trump seriously. There would be no book parties for that kind of “inappropriate” writing. So, instead, Woodward stayed comfortably (and profitably) inside the left-wing, anti-Trump universe. He missed the chance to write about the reality in which a very unusual president is achieving historic change in ways none of us fully understands or appreciates. President Trump has appointed, and gotten confirmed, a record number of judges in less than two years (with a few more to come, including a second Supreme Court justice who will be addedbefore the end of the year). How have White House Counsel Don McGahn and Federalist Society Executive Vice President Leonard Leo been so successful in finding judges? How have President Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) been so successful at getting these nominees through the Senate? This is a real-world success story more revealing than Woodward’s collection of anonymous trash talk. The economy is growing rapidly. From June 2017 to April 2018, the Congressional Budget Office’s 10-year federal revenue estimate jumped from $195 billion to $1.08 trillion for “economic reasons.” This historic level of growth raised so much extra revenue it will virtually pay for the 2017 tax cuts. Also, African-American and Latino unemployment are at their lowest levels in history. Four hundred thousand new manufacturing jobs have been added — with more projected. As the economy continues to accelerate, the CBO will have to continue to produce new estimates, with even greater growth. How did President Trump achieve this economic turnaround? How did his economic team function so successfully? The deregulation project on which Trump campaigned, and began to implement as soon as he was inaugurated, has been the most successful rolling back of red tape in American history. It continues to cut regulations and move power out of Washington bureaucracies and back to the American people. Who has done the actual work? How has it been coordinated? What does it say about potentially six more years of Trump deregulatory efforts? Renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) seems to be nearing success, despite the establishment’s being sure it would fail. What caused the turnaround? Why are the Europeans talking about serious trade negotiations? Why have the Chinese been so confused in their response to Trump’s trade toughness? There are a lot of good reasons to be skeptical of the Trump presidency. President Trump is 80 percent historic figure and 20 percent reality TV star. The bigger, historic side of Trump is changing America, in the manner of Andrew Jackson, Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan. His impact on the judiciary alone would make him a historic president. The smaller, reality TV side of Trump insists on self-destructive tweets, fights unworthy of the President of the United States, and smothering his own positive messages with noisy irrelevancies, which give the liberal media an excuse to avoid covering the important, good news. The historic Trump is real. In his first two years, he is accomplishing more than any president since FDR. Yet, the media stubbornly focus on the reality TV star and ignore the historic reality. This is a reality Bob Woodward could have investigated and written about. We need more good researcher-writers to take all of the Trump phenomenon seriously. Sadly, with Woodward’s book, we just got the usual liberal hostility pretending to be a serious book. America deserves better.

Shabs, what difference does it make on DV who wants Roe v. Wade overturned? Abortion, something to be proud of? In 2014, an estimated 926,240 abortions took place in the United States—down from 1.06 million in 2011, 1.21 million abortions in 2008, 1.2 million in 2005, 1.29 million in 2002, 1.31 million in 2000 and 1.36 million in 1996. From 1973 through 2011, nearly 53 million legal abortions occurred in the U.S (AGI). Facts About Abortion: U.S. Abortion Statistics www.abort73.com/abortion_facts/us_abortio…

I've read that Nike is taking it in the shorts. People are burning their Nike goods. Wonder how long that love affair will last when real money is involved?

Amazing how the US is always the bad guy. Russia gave the 3rd finger here. I agree, the helpless and the innocent are paying.

Nstoolman and jg1, understand. Just seemed a bit odd to me. And thankfully I've not lived in gangland for a long time. Only when was young n poor.

What's too bad is he smacked and ran. How about sticking around?

I'm lucky, I've two teams! And I've heard ever possible joke possible on the one team. And I expect ya to "poke da bear" on the one team - at least though I know what a recent super bowl looks like.

Smile!