Rep. Paul Broun’s (R-GA.) Senate campaign bashed Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-GA.) for complaining about his congressman’s salary.
Gingrey is running against Broun and other Republican candidates in the Senate primary in Georgia.
“While most Americans are struggling to make ends meet and battling higher healthcare costs, it’s disappointing that Congressman Gingrey, whose reported net worth exceeds $3 million, complains about being ‘stuck here (in Congress) making $172,000 a year,'” the Broun campaign said in a statement released Wednesday. “Congressman Paul Broun is fighting to exempt all Americans from Obamacare, to get Georgians back to work, and to jump start the economy so that our country can return to the path to prosperity. Georgians needs a senator who understands what it’s like to balance a budget, not one who is more concerned with their salary than the needs and economic challenges faced by most Georgians.”
Earlier on Wednesday National Review reported that during a closed-door meeting with fellow Republicans Gingrey complained that while his staff has the option of jumping ship for lobbying jobs that pay $500,000 he is “stuck” in Congress making just “$172,000 a year.”
The comment reportedly came during a discussion on an Obamacare requirement that pushes members of Congress and their employees into participating in federal health care exchanges. In a follow-up interview with the magazine, Gingrey said he did not recall his precise comments but the point he was trying to make is that “it is completely unfair for members of Congress and Hill staffers to get this special treatment that the general public are not getting.”
