U.S. Congress members failed to get pay bump for 15th year : NPR

Lawmakers on Capitol Hill came close to receiving their first pay increase in 15 years in a pre-Christmas bill to keep the government funded through the spring.

hide inside invoice This contradicts the language of a previous law that blocked automatic raises for lawmakers from taking effect, and was first reported on bloomberg.

However, the bill faced criticism for being too broad in size and scope, and was subject to misinformation about its contents, including over-increasing the cost of living for members of Congress.

“How can you call this a ‘continuing resolution’ when it includes a 40% salary increase for Congress?” Posted President-elect Donald Trump’s top advisor, Elon Musk, is worth more than $400 billion.

In reality, the bill would have made members’ cost of living subject to an increase of just 3.8 percent, or about $6,600.

“I was surprised to hear that my salary was going to increase to $240,000. That was news to me,” Nebraska Republican Rep. Don Bacon mused at the time.

Congressional compensation for rank-and-file members is $174,000, which has not been adjusted since 2009.

Rep. Richie Torres, R-New York, said it makes sense for members of Congress to receive the same treatment as other federal employees, and that they do receive a cost-of-living increase.

“We can’t operate as if the world doesn’t have inflation,” Torres told NPR. “It turns out that members of Congress are also affected by inflation. Who would have thought?”

political headwinds

a 1989 Act It includes automatic cost-of-living raises tied to an employment cost index, but Congress has long blocked those increases from taking effect.

According to Congressional Research ServiceIf a lawmaker received these salary adjustments after 1992, their 2024 salary would be $243,300.

“Adjusted for inflation, member salaries have declined 31% since 2009, the last time they received raises,” said Brandis Keynes Roan, a political science professor at Stanford University.

“Currently, members of Congress are paid relatively low compared to equivalent positions in the executive branch. Their salaries are significantly lower than comparable positions in the private sector,” he said in an interview. . “Members are required to maintain two residences or sleep on the floor of their offices and move their residence back into their constituency.”

Although the Constitution directs Congress to determine its own salaries, Keynes-Loan argues that raising salaries to adjust for inflation has itself become something of a political third rail. , lawmakers said they were concerned about political backlash from giving the raise.

“This allows challengers and outside parties to say, oh, the members are just enriching themselves,” she said.

But former MP Reid Ribble, who served in the House of Commons from 2011 to 2016, said the stagnation in pay has real implications for the makeup of Parliament itself.

“It changes the makeup a lot,” the Wisconsin Republican said in an interview. “It really discourages people from running for Congress unless they’re pretty wealthy. People think $174,000 is a lot of money. And if you’re making $50 to $60,000; It would seem so, but if you then provide a place to live and utilities in a very expensive city, that money quickly evaporates.”

a recent changes We aim to help those struggling to maintain two homes by allowing members to claim a partial refund of their accommodation costs.

But Mr Ribble, who is now retired, said the changes still did not address how salaries were lagging behind the rate of inflation.

“You want Congress to look like the American people. So, to more accurately represent the American people, you want to make sure that the nation’s young and old, men and women, people of all races and religions, , we need people from all income levels,’” he said. “And the more expensive it is to live in Washington, D.C., the less likely you are to have someone to do something like that.”

Eventually, Congress enacted various laws to fund the government. Once the original bill was defeated, all foreseeable plans to increase MP pay fell through.