He’s not alone: AOC and others have argued lawmakers should be paid more in order to protect against corruption and make the job more accessible.
He’s not alone: AOC and others have argued lawmakers should be paid more in order to protect against corruption and make the job more accessible.
They’re not allowed to do that though. Most of them get away with it, but it’s against the rules.
From California?
Do you have a source on that, because when I googled it the only thing to come up was Jackie Speier recommending banning it in 2020. There is even a recent Business Insider which talks about Mike Johnson doing it and makes no reference to it being against any rules.
https://www.businessinsider.com/speaker-mike-johnson-sleep-in-his-capitol-hill-office-2023-11
Here is a 2015 NPR article that says there are no rules against it https://www.npr.org/2015/12/26/458207661/meet-the-lawmakers-who-sleep-shower-work-all-on-capitol-hill
How about Arlington or Alexandria?
The building isn’t rated as a residence, so it’s most likely a fire code violation to use it as a residence. Aside from that:
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2018-04-06/u-s-lawmakers-shouldn-t-be-sleeping-in-their-offices
So, while there isn’t a rule that says specifically “congresspeople may not sleep in their offices”, there are all kinds of rules about what constitutes housing in DC that are not met by congressional offices:
https://dob.dc.gov/service/dc-housing-code-standards
https://realestateinthedistrict.com/is-your-dc-bedroom-legal/
That’s still going to be a second residence, it may not be a $2500/month residence, but it’s not going to be free.