The members of Congress would do well to reject their proposed 50 percent pay increase.

Too many arguments can be made against raising our representatives’ and senators’ pay by this amount for Congress to accept former president Reagan’s endorsement of the proposals last month.

Each member of Congress already makes $89,500 a year, which is roughly five times the wage of the average American worker. And this amount does not take into account the numerous honoraria taken in by representatives and senators every year.

For example, Kansas Sen. Bob Dole raked in an income last year of more than $100,000, supplementing his salary by giving 50 speeches at $2,000 a crack. Did Dole think his salary was inadequate? Hell no, he said. And did he have a hard time raising his extra $10,000? Nope—”many (members of Congress) can give two or three speeches in a day.”

Honoraria for congressional members would be done away with if the payraise is not blocked, but Congress should keep their honoraria and $89,500 and reject the proposed increase. The fact is that a 50 percent raise is just too much.

Proponents of the increase argue that in real, uninflated dollars, congressional salaries have declined by nearly one-third in the last two decades. But is a whopping 50 percent raise the answer to this problem?

According to a recent New York Times-CBS News poll, six out of seven Americans—83 percent_ oppose this increase. That should send a strong message to Congress about their constituents’ attitudes.

The American public might have been able to stomach a lesser figure—why not a 10 percent increase?

Congress has too many other fiscal matters of concern to worry about already, not the least being the federal deficit which has tripled in the last eight years. Congressional leaders should show the United States they know how to put their priorities in order.