A congressional seat in the Senate and House of Representatives makes a BASE salary of $174,000. It is the highest paying profession in the US that does not require a high school diploma.
If these people are truly public servants of the states they represent, as they claim to be, they should have to live off the median household income of the US citizens that reside in the state they represent. There is nothing in my mind that would convince representatives of a state to create a more prosperous /wealthy economy for their constituents than having to live on the wage that their constituents also live off of.
We could even more broadly say that all representatives should live off the US annual median household income of $80,000 (as of 2023).
Either way I find it insulting that these people have more paid time off than a public school teacher while making at least 3 times their wage without so much as a bachelor’s degree only to sit on their hands and call a 2 week recess every 6 weeks while citizens of the states subsist on meager wages.