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                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, March 12, 1993                   TAG: 9303120633
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

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CONGRESS IS A ROYAL PAIN

WITH ALL the hullabaloo about raising taxes, spending cuts, and the impact on the rich and the middle class, I have heard nothing said about the exorbitant salaries, perks and enormous pensions of the "Imperial Congress," who sneakily get their salaries raised in the middle of the night, on top of the automatic raises they get each year. Why should the rest of us have to make sacrifices while they live like royalty? Their salaries should be reduced, or at the very least frozen, and should be raised only after the American people have voted on it.

I worked as a secretary for years, and never did I work for a firm that didn't have a balanced budget. Yet Congress spends $1.59 for every dollar taken in in revenues. And every time the matter of a balanced budget comes up before Congress, it is voted down.

President Clinton should be given the privilege of a line-item veto, something that former President Bush was never allowed to have, even though 42 states give their governor that privilege. Maybe he would have the courage to eliminate some of the pork! KATHRYN B. SCOTT SALEM

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