Self-Sacrifice Is All the Rage as Federal Furloughs Loom.
'A similar dynamic has slowly been playing out on Capitol Hill, where the sequester cuts will affect the budgets of Congressional offices but not members’ salaries. (Like the president and cabinet secretaries, salaries of the House and Senate are set by law.)
Eleanor Holmes Norton, who represents the District of Columbia and its hundreds of thousands of federal employees, said last month that she would stop collecting her pay for each day federal employees are furloughed.
“If you’re a member of Congress, surely the notion of lead by example should not just be a slogan,” she said, adding that she would not be able to look her colleagues and constituents in the eye if she continued to collect her full salary. “You might feel a little better about seeing them in the elevator if you’re sharing in their pain.” Members of the House and Senate make $174,000 annually.
Representative Tammy Duckworth, Democrat of Illinois, has said she would give back 8.4 percent of her pay, an amount roughly equal to the cut that many domestic programs are facing.
That was not enough self-sacrifice for Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, who said he was giving up 20 percent of his pay.
Senator Mark Begich of Alaska, a Democrat who is expected to face a tough re-election race in 2014, said he would return part of his salary to the Treasury. But a call to his office to find out how much was met with a voice mail recording saying that sequester cuts had forced it to reduce office resources.'
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/05/us/politics/as-federal-furloughs-loom-administration-and-congressional-officials-take-pay-cuts.html?hp
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