National Business
Congressional leaders eye restoring automatic pay hike
By ANDREW TAYLOR Associated Press
May 08, 2019 09:21 PM
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FILE – This Oct. 1, 2018, file photo, shows the Capitol at sunrise in Washington. A handful of senior House lawmakers, frustrated by more than a decade of frozen congressional salaries, are quietly exploring whether to accept an annual pay raise that they’ve shunned since Barack Obama was first president.
J. Scott Applewhite, File
AP Photo
WASHINGTON
A handful of senior House lawmakers, frustrated by more than a decade of frozen congressional salaries, are quietly exploring whether to accept an annual pay raise that they’ve shunned since Barack Obama was first president.
It’s a longshot at best, requiring comity that’s in short supply in a Capitol riven with partisanship. More than two-thirds of House members have never gotten a pay raise because Congress has voted each year since 2009 to reject the annual cost-of-living pay hike.
And President Donald Trump could crush any effort to revive the pay raise with a single tweet.
Still, housing costs in the Washington area are skyrocketing, most lawmakers maintain two homes, and the salary of $174,000 doesn’t go so far in the face of 10 years of inflation.