Greenback So, Tennessee lawmakers are getting a raise. Woot for them.

State lawmakers are getting more money for the jobs they are doing in Nashville.

Salaries increased November eighth, by $1,600.

In addition, lawmakers daily expense allowance is also going up form $150 to $153 a day for the upcoming session.

If broken down, this is roughly $30 bucks a week. After taxes, I'm not so sure. There is a part of me that wants to say that how dare and then I realized that that's not that much in the overall big picture. My question is this: How much do they get behind the scenes, for travel, per diem and for overall political hoopla that goes on off the floor of the General Assembly? Wait a minute, the answer is in the three sentences above. Silly me. I wish I had that sort of daily expense allowance. State workers get around 40 bucks a day in per diem, or at least they did when I worked for them. There's always a side deal, isn't there? I'm just saying.  ¶ 12/22/2006 08:14:00 AM