DID YOU GET YOUR MONEY’S WORTH FROM CONGRESS LAST WEEK?

On Friday, the House passed Speaker John Boehner’s (R-OH) plan to raise the debt ceiling on a 218-210 vote. The Senate rejected the bill soon after. Floor action then turned to a plan offered by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV). The House voted down (173-246) Sen. Reid’s plan on Saturday and, on Sunday, the Senate failed to invoke cloture on it. (The vote was 50 to 49; 60 votes are needed for cloture.) The House and Senate stayed in session on Sunday in case there was a deal. A deal was eventually reached Sunday night, but no further votes were held.

Check below to see what else Congress did last week.

What you paid
Last week taxpayers spent roughly $107.8 million on Congress.

Salaries of Members of Congress and their allowances/week:

Speaker of the House: $223,500/52 = $4,299
House and Senate Majority and Minority Leaders: ($193,400/52) x 4 = $14,877
Other Representatives and Senators: ($174,000/52) x 530 = $1,773,462

Average budget for Members of Congress: ($1,600,000/52) x 535 = $16,461,538

Non-salary money allocated for Congress: $4.656 billion/52 = $89,538,462

What you got
In addition to the votes mentioned above, the House voted for seven bills that will save the federal government $5 million:

H.R. 1843, Designating the Postal Service facility at 489 Army Drive in Barrigada, Guam, as the John Pangelinan Gerber Post Office Building. COST: None

H.R. 1975, Designating the Postal Service facility at 281 East Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena, CA as the First Lieutenant Oliver Goodall Post Office Building. COST: None

H.R. 2213, Designating the Postal Service facility at 801 West Eastport Street in Iuka, MS as the Sergeant Jason W. Vaughn Post Office.COST: None

H.R. 2244, Designating the Postal Service facility at 67 Castle Street in Geneva, NY as the Corporal Steven Blaine Riccione Post Office.COST: None

H.R. 440, To provide for the establishment of the Special Envoy to Promote Religious Freedom of Religious Minorities in the Near East and South Central Asia. COST: $0

H.R. 1938, North American-Made Energy Security Act. COST: “No significant impact on the federal budget”

H.R. 1383, Restoring GI Bill Fairness Act of 2011. SAVINGS: $5 million over 10 years

In addition to the votes mentioned above, the Senate also confirmed Robert S. Mueller to be Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Paul A. Engelmayer to be a U.S. district court judge.