Now About That Congressional Pay Raise . . .
In January, Congress got a pay raise of $4,700, bringing their salaries to $174,000. Not bad at all, when you consider that people around the country are losing their jobs or taking pay cuts just to keep them.
In a recent comment on our post about bills to deny Congress pay increases, for example, a program manager for a defense contractor wrote about taking a 3% reduction in salary to keep people in his company from losing their jobs.
Well, it turns out that Congress canceled its raise for the coming fiscal year in the big omnibus spending bill it passed last week. (The very last sentence of the bill says: “Notwithstanding any provision of section 601(a)(2) of the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946 (2 U.S.C. 31(2)), the percentage adjustment scheduled to take effect under any such provision in calendar year 2010 shall not take effect.”)
But should Congress have canceled its automatic pay increases entirely? There was a little battle over that in the Senate last week, and the majority of Senators voted not to cancel their automatic pay raises. If an amendment to strike automatic pay raises had been passed, the bill would have had to go back to the House for another vote. Time has the whole story.
So, do you accept the argument that the press of business was too much to take time with a cancellation of automatic pay raises? Or was the “press of business” a problem that Congress created itself when it failed to pass the annual spending bills on schedule? (It’s already behind schedule for the coming fiscal year.)
Here is a list of Senators’ votes on whether or not to cancel the automatic pay increase. (The official vote record is here.) Scroll down to find your state and Senators. A “Yea” vote was a vote for continuing automatic pay increases. A “Nay” vote was for canceling automatic pay increases. Here’s how to contact them and let them know what you think.
Alabama
Nay - Sessions, Jefferson (R)
Nay - Shelby, Richard (R)
Alaska
Yea - Begich, Mark (D)
Nay - Murkowski, Lisa (R)
Arizona
Nay – Kyl, Jon (R)
Nay – McCain, John (R)
Arkansas
Yea – Pryor, Mark (D)
Nay – Lincoln, Blanche (D)
California
Yea – Boxer, Barbara (D)
Yea – Feinstein, Dianne (D)
Colorado
Yea – Bennet, Michael (D)
Yea – Udall, Mark (D)
Connecticut
Yea – Lieberman, Joseph (I)
Nay – Dodd, Christopher (D)
Delaware
Yea – Carper, Thomas (D)
Yea - Kaufman, Edward (D)
Florida
Yea - Martinez, Mel (R)
Yea - Nelson, Bill (D)
Georgia
Nay - Chambliss, Saxby (R)
Nay - Isakson, John (R)
Hawaii
Yea - Akaka, Daniel (D)
Yea - Inouye, Daniel (D)
Idaho
Nay - Crapo, Michael (R)
Nay - Risch, James (R)
Illinois
Yea - Burris, Roland (D)
Yea - Durbin, Richard (D)
Indiana
Yea - Lugar, Richard (R)
Nay - Bayh, Evan (D)
Iowa
Yea - Harkin, Thomas (D)
Nay - Grassley, Charles (R)
Kansas
Nay - Brownback, Samuel (R)
Nay - Roberts, Pat (R)
Kentucky
Nay - Bunning, Jim (R)
Nay - McConnell, Mitch (R)
Louisiana
Yea - Landrieu, Mary (D)
Nay - Vitter, David (R)
Maine
Nay - Collins, Susan (R)
Nay - Snowe, Olympia (R)
Maryland
Yea - Cardin, Benjamin (D)
Yea - Mikulski, Barbara (D)
Massachusetts
Yea - Kerry, John (D)
Not Voting - Kennedy, Edward (D)
Michigan
Yea - Levin, Carl (D)
Yea - Stabenow, Debbie Ann (D)
Minnesota
Nay - Klobuchar, Amy (D)
Mississippi
Yea - Cochran, Thad (R)
Yea - Wicker, Roger (R)
Missouri
Nay - Bond, Christopher (R)
Nay - McCaskill, Claire (D)
Montana
Yea - Baucus, Max (D)
Nay - Tester, Jon (D)
Nebraska
Nay - Nelson, Ben (D)
Not Voting - Johanns, Mike (R)
Nevada
Yea - Reid, Harry (D)
Nay - Ensign, John (R)
New Hampshire
Yea - Gregg, Judd (R)
Yea - Shaheen, Jeanne (D)
New Jersey
Yea - Lautenberg, Frank (D)
Yea - Menendez, Robert (D)
New Mexico
Yea - Bingaman, Jeff (D)
Yea - Udall, Tom (D)
New York
Yea - Gillibrand, Kirsten (D)
Yea - Schumer, Charles (D)
North Carolina
Yea - Hagan, Kay (D)
Nay - Burr, Richard (R)
North Dakota
Yea - Conrad, Kent (D)
Yea - Dorgan, Byron (D)
Ohio
Yea - Brown, Sherrod (D)
Nay - Voinovich, George (R)
Oklahoma
Nay - Coburn, Thomas (R)
Nay - Inhofe, James (R)
Oregon
Yea - Merkley, Jeff (D)
Nay - Wyden, Ron (D)
Pennsylvania
Yea - Casey, Robert (D)
Nay - Specter, Arlen (R)
Rhode Island
Yea - Reed, John (D)
Yea - Whitehouse, Sheldon (D)
South Carolina
Nay - DeMint, Jim (R)
Nay - Graham, Lindsey (R)
South Dakota
Yea - Johnson, Tim (D)
Nay - Thune, John (R)
Tennessee
Nay - Alexander, Lamar (R)
Nay - Corker, Bob (R)
Texas
Nay - Cornyn, John (R)
Nay - Hutchison, Kay (R)
Utah
Nay - Bennett, Robert (R)
Nay - Hatch, Orrin (R)
Vermont
Yea - Leahy, Patrick (D)
Yea - Sanders, Bernard (I)
Virginia
Yea - Warner, Mark (D)
Nay - Webb, Jim (D)
Washington
Yea - Cantwell, Maria (D)
Yea - Murray, Patty (D)
West Virginia
Yea - Byrd, Robert (D)
Yea - Rockefeller, John (D)
Wisconsin
Yea - Kohl, Herbert (D)
Nay - Feingold, Russell (D)
Wyoming
Nay - Barrasso, John (R)
Nay - Enzi, Michael (R)
Now About That Congressional Pay Raise . . . | Republican News
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DF
Feds will keep their jobs and cash. You’ll go broke. Obama really wants to help…..
WashingtonWatch.com Digest - March 16, 2009 - The WashingtonWatch.com Blog
[...] Now About That Congressional Pay Raise . . . [...]
tedbohne
First, a pay raise means you’ve done something to merit one. None of these limpwristed cowards have. Nancy pelosi, will go down in history as the weakest, most pathetic speaker of the house in US history. She also thought she deserved a 757 as HER private jet. There must be a way to FORCE BOTH HOUSES OF CONGRESS TO VOTE IN FRONT OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE IN TERMS OF PAY RAISES. None of the rest of us mopes get them. They are our servants, so they don’t either. I never cease to marvel at how different this government is from what history portrays it, or how it portrays itself now. Thieves, liars, murderers, the very worst of any society. Damn them I say, Damn them straight to hell.
Daniel Tibbetts
I don’t decide when I get a pay raise, my boss does. We the American taxpayers are your bosses. We should decide when you politicians get a raise since we are you employer. I will vote against you and your greedy corrupt ways, for voting for a pay raise for yourself and your fellow corrupt peers. I am a Democrat and voted straight a straight Democrat ticket in the 2008 delection but, I can change all of this because of your greed.
CSM
Lets talk Retirement – they serve 20yrs and get retirement at age 50. A Army Reserve Soldier serves 20yrs and has to wait until age 60 to get retirement??!! In 1991 they voted to give Soldiers a $.08 a day raise in food allowance….LOL
Hank Williams Jr. - Page 3 - Political Forum
[...] Posted by Think for myself Good lord. When did this happen? In January 09. source __________________ Think me a *bigot"? Def #11 of 12: In an extended sense, a person who is [...]
elona reiser
Durbin votes yea for a pay raise,He don’t do jack s**t,the service man are dieing everyday so the congress can go on getting fat,
Seniors ,people out work can starve,
Get them out of office and get some people who no hard times and
then we will get something done,
No rasise for Soc Sec or SSI what a joke the county is.No 1 should get a raise in congress,they make to much for what they do,Take a look at there health care and what they eat everyday,What A GREAT COUNTY for some.
Larry Brown
The Congress is employed by ‘we the people,’ but they have the ability to legislate what their pay shall be and define When, How, and If they receive pay raises. It is irresponsible for any group of workers, especially members of Congress, to enjoy locked-in pay raises given the volatile nature of economics. The best means therefore to restrict the the ‘madness’ of auomatic pay raises for those ‘hard working’ members of Congress is to bar the participation of liberal secularist progressive Marxist/Socialist DIMocrats from that body through the election process. Don’t ever again vote for a ‘pig in a poke’ like we did for Obama. Look what ruin that short sided vote has done for our republic!
kenneth a.taylor
I don’t care how much you like your senator or rep. vote them out. never ever vote for a person in congress after (2) terms never ever,i don’t care if it is your sister or brother
stephen allen
It is time for Congress to live by the same rules it makes for the rest of the country.
Scott
The provision for an automatic increase in Congressional compensation is a travesty and should be permanently removed from our laws. Congress should be receiving a cut in pay based on their terrible record.
Scott
The provision for an automatic increase in Congressional compensation should be eliminated.
Not just for this year, but forever.
Scott
The provision for an automatic pay raisw for Congress should be repealed.