VT delegation rewarded staffers with $236,830 in bonuses

As demands for fiscal austerity dominated debate in Washington, Vermont’s three congressional lawmakers gave their staffers a combined $236,830 in bonuses last year.
http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/article/20120116/NEWS03/120115011/Vermont-delegation-rewarded-staffers-236-830-bonuses

Written by
Nicole Gaudiano, Burlington Free Press Washington Writer

Bonus breakdown

Vermont’s congressional lawmakers gave year-end bonuses to their staffs last year but still had money left over in their office budgets to return to the Treasury.
Bonuses
Sen. Patrick Leahy: $138,830
Sen. Bernie Sanders: $64,000
Rep. Peter Welch: $34,000
Unspent money being returned to the Treasury
Leahy: At least $350,000, 11.7 percent of his budget.
Sanders: About $326,000, 10.9 percent of his budget.
Welch: About $140,500, 9.8 percent of his budget.
Office allowance last year
Leahy: $2,994,122 (fiscal 2011)
Sanders: $2,994,122 (fiscal 2011)
Welch: $1,430,078 (2011 calendar year)
— Gannett

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WASHINGTON — As demands for fiscal austerity dominated debate in Washington, Vermont’s three congressional lawmakers gave their staffers a combined $236,830 in bonuses last year.

Many other congressional lawmakers also rewarded staffers with year-end bonuses, and the Vermont lawmakers found other ways to save. Each will return a significant amount of unspent office money — about 10 percent of their budgets — to the federal government.

The Vermont lawmakers saw the bonuses as a way to reward hard-working staffers, many of whom earn much less than they would in the private sector.

Michael Briggs, a spokesman for independent Sen. Bernie Sanders said, “We have an extremely hard-working and aggressive staff that puts in long hours and (Sanders) could hire more people but does not. That’s how he’s able to give back to the taxpayers the amount that he does at the end of the fiscal year.”

Of the three lawmakers, Sen. Patrick Leahy, a Democrat, gave the most in bonuses. Twenty-nine of his personal office staffers received bonuses ranging from $1,500 to $5,000 last year, totaling $138,830. Leahy, who heads the Senate Judiciary Committee, also gave bonuses to 25 committee staffers, totaling $112,048.

Leahy’s spokesman, David Carle, said many other lawmakers use Leahy’s office salary structure “because it is flexible and fair and rewards good work.”

Sanders gave $2,000 bonuses to 32 people on his personal staff, totaling $64,000. He also gave $2,000 bonuses to two staffers on the Senate health subcommittee on Primary Health and Aging, which he chairs.

Rep. Peter Welch, a Democrat, gave each of his 17 staffers a $2,000 bonus, totaling $34,000. House office budgets are authorized by calendar year and Senate office budgets are authorized by fiscal year.

“Staff bonuses for 2011 were awarded in recognition of outstanding performances, especially in ensuring that Vermont has the resources it needs to recover from (Tropical Storm) Irene,” said Welch’s spokesman, Scott Coriell.

Lawmakers have the discretion to decide whether to give bonuses, and most do. A 2010 House Compensation Study by ICF International found that 77 percent of 133 offices surveyed gave bonuses that year. That’s down from 89 percent in 2009 and 92.3 percent in 2006, according to the study, produced for the House Chief Administrative Office.