Nick Lampson writes a letter to Fort Bend Now.

Congress should be ashamed of giving itself a raise at a time when our nation faces the largest debt and deficits in its history.

Our country is facing a real mess with skyrocketing deficits, wasteful spending, an over-committed military and unsecured border. But instead of working to fix the mess it has created, Congress is busy patting itself on the back with a pay raise. This is just plain wrong.

Members of Congress voted Tuesday to give themselves a $3,300-per-year pay raise despite the federal government’s record debt and deficits. With a debt of more than $9 trillion (more than $30,000 for every man, woman, and child in America) and a deficit of around $350 billion, there is a lot of talk in Washington about cutting waste. But talk is cheap. A $3,300 pay raise for 435 members of Congress is waste.

While members of Congress apparently believe they are doing a great job, they think much less of our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. In 2003, they voted against a $1,500 bonus for our troops in combat even as they went ahead with their own pay raise.

Every year, members of Congress continue to give themselves raises even as they short-change our troops, education, and health care and even as they run up the highest deficits and debt in history. It must stop.

While in Congress, I routinely voted for efforts to remove Congressional pay raises from the budget.

Texas has some 70,000 National Guard and Reserve troops. Many of them have taken huge pay cuts to go abroad and serve their country. It is unbelievable that members of Congress, who already make a nice salary, refuse to make a small sacrifice for their country. It shows a lack of commitment to getting this country back on track.