Trust and satisfaction with our federal congress is at an all time low. We the people feel like those in power are out of touch with common folk. The current salary of a congressman is roughly 174,000$ per year, and someone working fulltime at minimum wage is making roughly 15,000$ a year.
This huge disparity is indicative of the time we live in, where the super rich continue to get richer, while the middle class and the poor are floundering. Think of the money we would save just by paying our congressman, who are supposed to be VOLUNTEERING their service, the same we pay everyone else.
Almost everyone who enters politics these days is already independently wealthy, I doubt very much if they would go missing their congressional salary all that much.