WASHINGTON, 27 November — Members of the US House of Representatives recently quietly gave themselves a robust raise, increasing their salaries by $12,105, and raising their total pay and allowances to $157,105.
The Oct. 26 vote was quietly passed, and the mainstream press — perhaps in deference to Afghanistan and terrorism — has not picked up on the event.
But some Washington insiders are wondering how — at the time of an economic nose-dive, massive and recurring corporate layoffs and downsizing and divisive uncertainty about the country’s economic viability — that the people elected to lead America can justify giving themselves such a substantial raise.
Congress does have a history of being generous to itself: In 1975, the annual congressional salary was $44,600. In 1990, it was $97,500. As of January 2002, that salary will jump to $157,105. Simply put, their salary has increased 48 percent in the last decade, and increased 13 percent since 1999, according to the Congress Disbursing Office’s Quarterly Report.
With such a hefty salary, critics charge, no wonder that term limitation laws have never been able to get passed in Congress.
In addition, congressmen’s salaries and cost-of-living increases are separate from operating budgets, expense accounts, free financial privileges and a host of their monetary perks that go with the job.
The budget increase bill raises the legislative branch budget to $2.97 billion for the House, Senate and congressional agencies, an increase of over 9 percent over the current year’s budget. The congressional staff cost-of-living increase and the lawmakers’ raise are not included in the $2.97 billion budget.
The man behind the bill is Virginia Democrat James Moral who said the bill’s funding "will enable us to be better prepared to counter this new terrorist threat. Security and the need to preserve the ability of this institution to continue to function have been our paramount concern."
Despite the rhetoric, details in the bill make no mention of terrorism or national security. The bill’s text dictates only how much more the representative voted to pay themselves this year. One critic sarcastically suggested that perhaps Moran and his colleagues are going to use their salaries to augment their personal supply of anti-terrorism munitions.
Moran, critics contend, is in the middle of a very messy — and public — divorce, and thus is probably in dire need of the extra cash.
