Controversy Over Pay Raises

Congressional leaders are unwisely flaunting their power and intentionally ignoring the power of the people in the case of the proposed congressional, presidential and judicial pay raises.

What we see is a blatant disregard of the intent of the people (reportedly a majority of the people are against the proposed pay raises), and instead we have a White House commission with the backing of an ex-President dictating the proposed pay raises in a self-serving way. Hence, we have a government by commission and omission.

The pay raises, grossly manipulated for passage at a time when the country’s financial balance sheets are a chaos, reflect a Congress that seems not to know which end is up.

Every man and woman in the United States with the power to vote should get off their apathy and send their congressional representatives a message to act responsibly to get House Speaker Jim Wright to at least allow a congressional vote before Feb. 8.

VICTOR H. JASHINSKI

Newport Beach