“Fox & Friends” weekend co-host Pete Hegseth said Sunday that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s (D-N.Y.) move to cap higher-level staff incomes in order to pay every member of her staff an annual salary of at least $52,000 was an example of communism and socialism.
“It’s actually socialism and communism on display,” Hegseth said on weekend version of the popular Fox News program.
Hegseth made the comments as a group of co-hosts discussed Ocasio-Cortez’s decision to pay what she said was a “living wage” to the staffers in her office.
“It’s likely one of the highest entry-level salaries on the Hill,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote on Twitter on Friday. “We pinch pennies elsewhere, but it’s worth every dime to pay a living wage.”
Corbin Trent, Ocasio-Cortez’s communications director, told Roll Call that salaries for the congresswoman’s office would top out at $80,000 due to the policy. The median wage for top congressional staffers is $154,634, according to a Legistorm analysis reported by USA Today last year of congressional chiefs of staffs.
A lot of people commenting don’t know how Congressional salaries work.
Each member is given a set amount that they disburse. GOP has refused to increase budgets in years to give hard-working staff a raise, which means people helping to run the country are getting paid $30k/year.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) February 23, 2019