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Poll: President, Congress should cut pay

U.S. House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) walks to his office after the House voting on debt limit on Capitol Hill in Washington on August 01, 2011. UPI/Yuri Gripas.
U.S. House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) walks to his office after the House voting on debt limit on Capitol Hill in Washington on August 01, 2011. UPI/Yuri Gripas. | License Photo

WASHINGTON, Aug. 2 (UPI) -- An overwhelming majority of U.S. voters want Congress to take a cut in pay until the federal budget is balanced, a Rasmussen Reports survey indicated Tuesday.

While 82 percent said lawmakers should take a 25 percent pay cut until the budget is balanced, 48 percent said they thought the president should take a 50 percent pay cut for the same period, results indicated.

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Actually seeing a balanced budget is a long way away, survey participants said. Just 30 percent said they thought it was at "least somewhat" likely that the federal budget will be balanced for just a single year during their lifetimes.

Whether the budget is balanced made no difference to a majority of voters who said neither members of Congress nor the president should receive government pensions when leaving office.

Results are based on a nationwide survey of 1,000 likely voters conducted Thursday and Friday. The margin of error is 3 percentage points.

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