Members of Congress could face their first pay raise since 2009 if they pass a massive stopgap measure that would prevent a partial government shutdown.
A 1989 law established automatic annual cost-of-living adjustments for Congress, but every spending bill since 2009 included a provision that prevented the increases from taking effect, they say a September report from the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service.
The 1,500-page invoice to fund the government until mid-March, Published Tuesday eveningdoes not contain such a provision.
Bloomberg government first reported about the absence of the provision in the last spending law.
Members of Congress earn salaries of at least $174,000, with some leadership positions paying more. A cost of living enhance is calculated based on private sector wages. The maximum allowable rate for next year is 3.8%, which would enhance the base salary to $180,600, according to the CRS report.
Taking inflation into account, members have seen an effective salary decline of 31% since 2009, CRS said.
However, the reason most Congresses have passed legislation blocking an automatic enhance is because it is unpopular with voters.
The lack of a lock on the pay raise and another provision in the spending bill that would allow members to access the federal employee health benefits program prompted Democrat Jared Golden of Maine, who has projected a populist image, to seek election in a swing district to win, on this statement He would oppose the entire funding bill, known as the “Continuing Resolution” or CR.
“Congress should be working to raise Americans’ wages and reduce their health care costs, not sneaking benefits for new members into mandatory legislation behind closed doors,” Golden said in a statement Wednesday. “If members cannot make ends meet with our already generous salaries and benefits, they should look for another career. As long as these provisions are included in the CR, I will vote against it.”
The enhance comes as Republicans seeking unified control of elected branches of government next year have hired billionaires Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to recommend $2 trillion in federal spending cuts. which, if implemented, would result in job losses among the federal workforce and related industries.
Both Musk and Ramaswamy urged members to oppose the stopgap bill, with Musk highlighting the pay enhance as one reason – although he misstated its size.
“How can you call this a ‘continuing resolution’ when it includes a 40 percent pay raise for Congress?” Musk wrote a contribution to Xthat belongs to him.
While most federal spending remains constant, the bill also includes $100 billion for natural disaster relief efforts over the past two years, as well as fully funding the reconstruction of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Maryland a determination to enable year-round sales of a gasoline blend containing up to 15% ethanol.
Lawmakers must pass a funding bill before midnight Friday to prevent a partial shutdown.
Last updated on December 18, 2024 at 2:26 p.m
