High Rents Force NYC Congressmen To Sleep In D.C. Offices: Report

NEW YORK, NY — New York City's representatives in Congress have to live part-time in two of the nation's most expensive towns, forcing some to bunk in their Washington offices, according to a new report in the New York Post.

U.S. Reps. Dan Donovan and Gregory Meeks are among the roughly 100 lawmakers who sleep in their offices while working on Capitol Hill, the Post reported Wednesday. Some say they snooze near their desks because they can't afford apartments in both New York and Washington.

"If we go to the point where you have to rent or have to buy [in DC], then only millionaires would be members of Congress," Donovan, a Staten Island Republican, told the Post. "I don’t think that was the intent of our Founding Fathers."

Other office-dwelling lawmakers include Meeks, a Queens Democrat, Speaker Paul Ryan, and New York Reps. Lee Zeldin, John Katko and Brian Higgins, according to the Post.

Some sympathetic reps told the Post they support a raise for House members, whose $174,000 salaries haven't increased since 2009. But others, including Reps. Nydia Velzaquez (D-Brooklyn) and Claudia Tenney (R-Utica), reportedly oppose the idea.

Read the full New York Post report here.

(Lead image: Photo from Shutterstock / Richard Smart)