Title 2, Chapter 3, Sec. 39 of the US Legal Code:
The Secretary of the Senate and the Chief Administrative Officer of the House of Representatives (upon certification by the Clerk of the House of Representatives), respectively, shall deduct from the monthly payments (or other periodic payments authorized by law) of each Member or Delegate the amount of his salary for each day that he has been absent from the Senate or House, respectively, unless such Member or Delegate assigns as the reason for such absence the sickness of himself or of some member of his family
Presidential hopeful John F. Kerry has been a virtual no-show in the U.S. Senate over the past 14 months, but he hasn’t missed a paycheck, even though a dusty federal law says some of his $158,000 salary should have been withheld.
During his run for the presidency, Kerry has missed every one of the 22 roll call votes in the Senate this year and was absent for 292, or 64 percent of the roll call votes last year, according to a Herald review of Senate records.
That means the Massachusetts senator has been away from his post in the Senate chamber for at least 128 days over the past 14 months. . . .
Section 39 of the United States Code Service requires the Secretary of the Senate and the Chief Administrative Officer of the House to deduct daily pay from members for each day they are absent.
The only legal excuse is if the senator or representative, or one of their family members, is ill, the law states.
Sen. Kerry can make out that check to “The US Treasury” any time now…
Hat tip to InstaPundit for the links.
Hey, if he got paid for being there, that’s enough to prove that he was there, right? I mean, that worked for Bush, right?
I don’t see how you can say that Kerry wasn’t there at the Senate if he’s being paid for being there. At least, I don’t see how you can say that and be consistent.
I’ll settle for giving Kerry a dishonorable discharge from politics…
Does that mean you consider him a threat? 😉
Well, in all seriousness, yes. In politics, you never underestimate someone who can make it to the national level. Kerry’s going to be a difficult candidate to beat, although he’s going down in November… 🙂