National Taxpayers Union Slams Absent Senators and Members of Congress

According to a study released last week by the National Taxpayers Union, an obscure federal statute (2 U.S.C. § 39) requires Senators and Members of Congress who are absent from work to forfeit their pay unless they or a family member are ill.  The statute reads:

The Secretary of the Senate and the Chief Administrative Officer of the House of Representatives . . . shall deduct from the monthly payments (or other periodic payments authorized by law) of each Member or Delegate the amount of his salary for each day that he has been absent from the Senate or House, respectively, unless such Member or Delegate assigns as the reason for such absence the sickness of himself or of some member of his family.

The NTU charges that congressional leaders have failed to enforce this statute while rank-and-file lawmakers seem reluctant to voluntarily comply. "Members of Congress claim they follow the laws that apply to everyone else, but our research shows that many Senators and Representatives won’t even follow laws that apply explicitly to themselves," said NTU President John Berthoud. "Worse, taxpayers covered the bill for several Members of Congress who were trolling for votes at the polls instead of casting votes in Washington."  The Top 5 Congressional absentees:

NTU Study of Congressional Absentees
Senator/Member	Days Missed 2003-04	Salary Overpayment
John Kerry	146	$90,933
Richard Gephardt	131	$81,363
John Edwards	102	$63,543
Joe Lieberman	63	$38,829
Luis Gutierrez	42	$26,198

For further details, see:

• Press Release
• Report