New York Congressmen Gladly Accept Pay Hike

Nice message to send to their constituents during a recession.

Saying members of Congress deserve a raise, Rep. Gary Ackerman said he will gladly accept the $4,700 boost to his paycheck amid hard economic times affecting the country.

"I'm one of those who believe public servants are greatly underpaid," Ackerman (D-Roslyn Heights) said of the cost-of-living adjustment that went into effect for members of Congress on Jan. 1.

Noting he spent the weekend on a fact-finding visit to Israel, Ackerman said he flew back overnight and arrived in Washington at 4:30 a.m. Monday so he could attend a hearing on financier Bernard Madoff's alleged Ponzi scheme.

"I don't get overtime," he said. "I don't think pay for members of Congress is unreasonable. I certainly don't think they are overpaid."

Meanwhile, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) will take the raise, said his spokesman Brian Fallon, though Schumer likely would support a bill to rescind it, if a measure is introduced.

Nice mealy-mouthed excuse there, Chuckie.

Maybe while they're holding hearings on Madoff they can announce when they're going to give back the hundreds of thousands of dollars Madoff contributed to his friends the Democrats.

Reps. Tim Bishop (D-Southampton), Steve Israel (D-Huntington), Peter King (R-Seaford) and Carolyn McCarthy (D-Mineola) also have said they will accept the increase.

The 2.78 percent raise boosted salaries of senators and House members to $174,000.

But Phillipe Reines, a spokesman for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), refused to say if she will accept the raise.

Nothing like taking a decisive stand. Why would she have to? She won't be in the Senate much longer, right?

I'm disappointed in Peter King. As one of the few GOP members in the New York delegation, he could score some point if he and his fellow Republicans refused to take the money.

I guess everyone has a price.

Meanwhile, Schumer recently had hernia surgery. No word if he was injured toting around that giant mirror he brings wherever he goes.

The senior US senator from New York entered a Manhattan hospital last Friday to undergo surgery for a hernia. The procedure went just fine, though he couldn't hold his usual Sunday morning press conference. But the lawmaker was at work yesterday. His press secretary, Josh Vlasto, told Page Six, "Sen. Schumer is back doing the heavy lifting for New York once again."

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