An Iowa congressman pledged to donate a portion of his salary as long as local workers are furloughed.
At an event Saturday, April 13 Congressman Dave Loebsack announced he will be giving a day’s worth of salary to charities in Iowa every day that Rock Island Arsenal jobs are affected by sequestration. The charities he will be giving to are ones that support Iowa families.
“It is unacceptable that, through sequestration, Congress has asked everyone else but themselves to make a sacrifice,” said Loebsack. “It makes no sense to me that the only people that are not feeling any pain from sequester are members of Congress themselves.”
Loebsack said he intends to stand with people in the community like the Rock Island Arsenal workers, children losing their education, and University workers who are being asked to bear all the economy's weight.
To help even the playing field, Loebsack introduced a bill earlier in 2013 that would cut pay for Congress by 10-percent. This would be the first pay decrease for Congress since 1933.