In 2011, U.S. senators make $174,000 per year. Senators kind of get to set their own salary. Since 1989, raises for senators have been set in accordance with the Ethics Reform Act of 1989, which provides for a raise based on the change in private sector wages and cost of living index. What employee of any business you know of gets to set his/her own salary? I have worked ever since I was 16 and then when I graduated from high school in 1964, I joined the U.S. Navy and spent 20 years drawing a meager wage. As a matter …