Charlie Rangel, Democratic member of Congress from New York, drives a 2004 Cadillac DeVille for a cool $777.54 a month. Michael McNulty, also a New York member of Congress, leases his 2007 Mercury Mariner hybrid for $816 a month.

And guess what? You are paying for it, along with vehicles driven by hundreds of members of Congress. They include a snazzy BMW 530i, a Lexus LS 460 and many others. A car – along with insurance, registration fees and that ever-more-costly commodity, gas – is part of the package of perks that members of the U.S. House of Representatives receive when they are elected.

What’s more, there is no limit on how much taxpayer money they can spend on their vehicles. What a sweet deal!

Now that gas prices are so high, the situation is raising eyebrows. The story was reported today in The New York Times.