Oops! I wonder if this will get mentioned in the SOTU.

[Adam]

[Frostbit]

In fairness, if they were paid would that be a Government expense passed onto us? If so, then isn't this a fiscally conservative policy?

[Adam]

In fairness, if they were paid would that be a Government expense passed onto us? If so, then isn't this a fiscally conservative policy?

Well, not exactly. Congresscritters get the same budget regardless of the size of their staff, so if they paid their interns, then the net effect upon the federal budget would be $0, but the effect upon their staff budget would be huge.

See the catch here is that they have painted themselves into a corner. The only possible answer for them is that they couldn't maintain a staff of interns (read: employees) if they had to pay them, so they'd have to let a bunch of interns (if not all of them) go if they had to pay them. IOW, if they had to run their Congressional offices like an actual business, then the minimum wage would indeed "hurt" them as a "business," or at least hurt the "employees," who are of course interns there getting a résumé-pad (which is precisely how it is sold to them in the first place).

Hence why it's such blatant hypocrisy.