Washington D.C. – April 10, 2014 – (RealEstateRama) — Representative Jim Moran, Northern Virginia Democrat, Ranking Member on the House Appropriations Interior Subcommittee and senior member of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, today introduced an amendment to the Legislative Branch Appropriations Bill for Fiscal Year 2015 that would restructure annual cost of living adjustments for Members of Congress as a housing stipend to reflect the challenges of maintaining a second home in the 5th most expensive real estate market in the country.
House Members who maintain a primary residence further than 50 miles from the Capitol would be eligible for a voluntary $25 per day housing stipend when Congress is in session.
With Congress in session 112 days in 2014, the housing stipend would be $2,800, equivalent to this year’s proposed cost of living adjustment which is being frozen for the 6th consecutive year.
“The House is supposed to reflect the people of this country. Don’t we want it to make financial sense for a 30-something physician, district attorney, city council member, or small business owner, who maybe has a new home mortgage, young children, or unpaid student loan debt, to serve in Congress?,” said Rep. Moran. “Federal elected office shouldn’t be limited just to those who are financially independent and do not have to give thought to paying out-of-pocket for living expenses while in D.C. We’re in the 5th year of a COLA freeze for Members’ pay. This reform would at least offer some relief from the cost of renting a second residence in the Washington Metropolitan area.”
D.C. rental prices have increased 12 percent since 2010. As of this February, the median rental price is $2,250 per month, or $27,000 annually.
As a retiring member whose 8th District home is less than 10 miles from Capitol Hill, Rep. Moran does not stand to personally benefit at all from this provision.
