"Over the 15-year period between 2000 and 2015, US taxpayers spent $10 million on prayers in Washington."
Taxpayers Billed $800,000 A Year For Prayers In Congress
American taxpayers are being charged more than $66,000 an hour for prayers said in the US House and Senate. The total cost per prayer, which lasts an average of 90 seconds, is a whopping $1,659.
According to Andrew Seidel of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, who did the math to determine what taxpayers are being charged for prayers in Washington, the total annual bill comes to more than $800,000.
Both the U.S. House and Senate employ a chaplain whose singular duty is to administer prayer. The budget for the House Chaplain’s office is $345,000, while the Senate Chaplain’s office receives $436,886.
Seidel reports that both the House and Senate chaplains earn executive level salaries which are equal to those of high-ranking government officials, (..)
Seidel reports: And even with those fat salaries, the official chaplains let “guest chaplains” deliver many of the prayers—about 40% in the House. (..)
As Seidel explains here, in 2011 the House Chaplain delivered just 104 prayers, lasting an average of 90 seconds each. That’s about 2.6 hours of work. For that he was paid $172,500, or $66,346 an hour.
Over the 15-year period between 2000 and 2015, US taxpayers spent $10 million on prayers in Washington. In the meantime, elected officials slashed spending on essential programs like WIC and SNAP as well as other assistance for the vulnerable.
http://www.addictinginfo.org/2016/04/27/taxpayers-billed-800000-a-year-for-prayers-in-congress/