Gop Challenge Fails To Stop 2.3% Pay Boost For Lawmakers
Pay-raise opponents in the House fell short in an effort Wednesday to reverse a $3,100 cost-of-living boost for Congress, virtually assuring that lawmakers’ salaries will automatically rise on Jan. 1.
Led by a group ofRepublican dissidents, the pay-raise critics tried to mount a parliamentary challenge to the 2.3 percent increase that will hike the salaries of senators and representatives to $136,673 from $133,600 a year.
But they couldn’t muster the votes to surmount procedural hurdles erected by GOP and Democratic leaders, who had promised to support the pay increase. The leadership pointed out that Congress had not received a pay raise in five years and was not keeping pace with inflation.
Rep. Linda Smith, R-Wash., one of the leaders in the attempt to block the pay increase, said afterward that it would probably be futile to try to revive the issue in this session.
“If a horse is dead, you don’t try to ride it,” she said, noting that the only chance for resurrecting it now lies with voters. “If people react at home, it could make a difference. Then we’d see if the horse had any life left in it.”
In July, senators voted to deny themselves the cost-of-living increase. Since then, leaders in both parties have indicated they will encourage Senate conferees, when they meet with their House counterparts on the issue, to go along with it.
An attempt last week to block the pay raise was thwarted when House leaders rushed a spending bill, on which the dissidents had hoped to offer a no-raise amendment, through the chamber before opponents had a chance to react.
This time, the deck was again stacked against a clear, up-or-down vote on the issue, forcing the dissidents to jump through narrow parliamentary hoops to get into position to offer their no-raise amendment. On the key vote, they were rebuffed by a 229-199 margin, when 114 Republicans and 115 Democrats stuck with the raise, while 110 Republicans, 88 Democrats and one Independent voted to deny it.
Supporters of the raise said members of Congress worked hard for their salaries.
Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., argued that the House would become an exclusive preserve of “wackos and millionaires” if others were discouraged from serving because of stunted salaries.
And Rep. Jim Kolbe, R-Ariz., maintained that most citizens do not resent the idea that lawmakers should, “like millions of other working Americans,” get an annual inflation adjustment.
He also took issue with Smith’s contention that voters would punish members who voted for the raise.
“I was in my home district last weekend,” Kolbe said, “and met with constituents on eight occasions and appeared on two radio talk shows. No one brought this issue up once, except the talk-show hosts who hammered away on it, but got no phone calls in on it.”
xxxx HOW THEY VOTED A “yes” vote was a vote to back the raise. Idaho: Republicans Chenoweth, N; Crapo, Y. Washington: Republicans - Dunn, Y; Hastings, Y; Metcalf, N; Nethercutt, N; Smith, Linda, N; White, N. Democrats - Dicks, Y; McDermott, Y; Smith, Adam, N.