Chaffetz forked out raises | The Salt Lake Tribune

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Rep. Jason Chaffetz has been at the forefront complaining about runaway federal spending but a new report says the Utah congressman might want to be careful casting stones from his glass office.

Chaffetz, who has been serving as the ranking Republican on the oversight panel on the federal workforce, said recently that federal employees are going to have to "figure out how to do more with less."

But The Associated Press noted this morning that Chaffetz gave his own staff an average raise of about 9 percent this year. That's on par with raises given by Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann and Sen. Tom Coburn, two others who have railed against a burgeoning federal workforce.

Chaffetz told the AP reporter that what's important is that he still comes well under the overall budget for his office. And come January, House Republicans have already pledged to cut their personal office budgets by 5 percent, so then there'll be even less money to dole out.— Thomas BurrTwitter.com/thomaswburr