How Did They Vote? How Many Are 'Upper Class?'

Two parter here!  1. Does WBZ plan to give a breakdown of how each congressman votes on the debt thing so we know who to vote out of office next time around. and 2. How many of these Congressmen would be affected by letting taxes be raised on the "upper class"?   Maybe selfish intentions? - Jay, Danvers

I can tell you how the Mass. delegation voted:  Both Senators Kerry & Brown voted in favor of the bill.

On the House side, only 3  Bay State Reps voted "yes:"  Tsongas, Lynch and Keating.

Seven others voted against:  Frank, Tierney, Markey, Capuano, McGovern, Neal and Olver.

You can see how every Representative in the House voted here and how each Senator voted here.

As for part 2 of Jay's question... most of the members of Congress would be considered "upper class," at least by one definition.

The Center for Responsive Politics conducted a study last year that looked at the personal wealth of all members of Congress.

For Representatives, the median wealth was $765,010 and for Senators the median was $2.3-million.

Now, of course, that's not income.

The annual salary of a member of Congress is about $175,000, and many of them have other sources of income as well.

So I'm guessing if the so-called Bush tax-cuts for upper income earners was repealed, that most of the members of Congress would be paying more.

Speaking of tax increases....the bill passed today doesn't contain any.  Many Democrats don't like that.  Some argue we should have both spending cuts and tax increases.  What do  you think?