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Griping aside, Senators and Representatives make a good buck. Last February they received a $12,900 raise, to $57,500 (Byrd and the other floor leaders get more: $65,000). As a quid pro quo, the Senate and House approved stringent codes of ethics that limit, to $8,625 annually, extra earnings from speeches, law practice or other outside employment. In addition, the fringes are fancy. Each year members get an expense allowance of $7,000, a telephone and telegraph allowance of at least $6,000 and 33 paid round-trips home. The Senators and Representatives get free medical care and drugs, cut-rate life insurance, $2 haircuts and, to keep them going when the sessions grow long, rib-sticking navy-bean soup for only 400 a bowl in the congressional cafeteria. Pensions can be as high as $42,560 after 30 years' service.
So far this year, 17 Representatives have decided to retire, including Mahon, Texas Democrat Barbara Jordan and California Republican Charles Wiggins. In the Senate, at least seven veterans will be quitting. They include Democrat James Abourezk, 46, of South Dakota and Republican Carl Curtis, 72, of Nebraska and former Republican Whip Robert Griffin, 54, of Michigan. The modern record for retirements was set in 1976: 26 Representatives and eight Senators.
The accelerating turnover has opened the House and Senate to a new breed of members with far more varied backgrounds than those of their predecessors. Members of Congress increasingly have little or no politics in their pasts. Some examples in the Senate: California Republican S.I. Hayakawa, who was president of San Francisco State College, and Ohio Democrat John Glenn and New Mexico Republican Harrison Schmitt, both astronauts. Democratic Representative Lawrence McDonald of Georgia was a urologist. Republican Congressman Jack Kemp of New York was a quarterback for the Buffalo Bills in the 1960's.
Many junior members have moved quickly into positions of influence. Second term Democratic Representative Thomas Downey, 28, of New York is a congressional adviser to the SALT negotiators. Sasser belongs to three key Senate committees: Appropriations, Budget and Governmental Affairs. Says he of his fast advance: "It gives you the feeling that you are of some worth to the country and not simply a second-class legislator." Vermont's Leahy, who entered the Senate in 1974, ranks 79th in seniority; if re-elected in 1980, he will rank about 55th. Says he: "Twenty years ago, I would have had to wait 20 years to move up that far."