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News :: Miscellaneous |
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Congressional Members looking to give themselves another Raise |
Current rating: 0 |
by spy4thepeople
(No verified email address) |
12 Jun 2001
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Editor's Note: This is obscene. These bums have given themselves a raise 4 of the last 5 years. They have given the rich a huge tax cut and most working people next to nothing (or just nothing if you're poor) in tax relief. They give the Pentagon practically everything it asks for. They sponsor numerous bills every year to give "relief" to big contributors.
And they have NOT raised the minimum wage since 1997, let alone given workers a Living Wage. VOTE THE BUMS OUT! |
spy4thepeople is a congressional staffer working to protect the interests of the common man...by infiltrating the enemy, spy4thepeople is providing an inside view of Congress and how it operates...
From Roll Call, the newspaper of Capitol Hill....
June 11, 2001
Leaders Getting Behind COLA
By Lauren Whitington
Paving the way for the fourth cost-of-living adjustment in five years, House and Senate leaders expressed support last week for a Congressional pay raise, a signal that what once was considered one of the more highly controversial issues on Capitol Hill may be fading into an annual routine.
The newfound fiscal generosity on Capitol Hill also extends to the 2002 legislative branch funding bill, a dramatic change from last year when the House Appropriations Committee initially attempted to slash $94 million from the Congressional budget before the Senate blocked some of the cuts.
This year the House Appropriations Committee has authorized a $259 million increase in spending, or roughly10 percent, from fiscal year 2001. The panel, in spending targets released Friday, authorized $2.91 billion to fund all Congressional operations, which is actually slightly less than the level requested by President Bush.
John Scofield, a spokesman for the Appropriations Committee, said the spending boost represents the changes needed to accommodate an increase in the Member Representational Allowance, as approved by the House Administration Committee.
House Democrats also saw a bump in their committee funding levels after a deal was worked out between Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) and Minority Leader Richard Gephardt (D-Mo.) to address Democratic complaints that they were being shortchanged on some panels.
\"Clearly the Members and committees have had tight budgets and deserve an increase,\" said Neil Volz, the Administration Committee\'s staff director.\"It\'s a matter of looking out for the best interests of the institution.\"
As for the COLA, Hastert and Gephardt have agreed to handle the pay raise the same way they have for the past few years, by supporting it and agreeing not to attack each other over the issue.
In his first comments on the COLA since becoming Majority Leader, Sen. Thomas Daschle (D-S.D.) said Friday that he would \"absolutely\" go along with other Congressional leaders to avoid having either side try to exploit the matter for political gain.
While Daschle did not specifically endorse a pay increase for Members, he said, \"I don\'t think it should ever be a [political] football. That\'s short-term politics at its worst.\"
In an interview with The Associated Press, Hastert said that Members \"ought to be able to keep up with the cost of living so that they can take care of their families and provide for their families like everybody else does.\"
A spokesman for Hastert reiterated that the Speaker supports the pay raise, calling it \"not a big deal.\"
\"It\'s kind of a normal part of business here,\" Hastert spokesman John Feehery said. \"There\'s going to be a cost-of-living adjustment, an inflation adjustment. It\'s going to always be part of the Congressional budget, and I think there\'s bipartisan support for that.\"
Last year the House voted 250-173 against blocking a 2.7 percent salary increase, boosting their pay to $145,100 annually. It was the first time since 1992 that lawmakers have allowed a pay raise during an election year.
Members received a 3.4 percent increase in 1999, but it is still unclear what this year\'s level will be.
The annual salary increases, which are traditionally 1 percent less than what federal employees receive, are part of permanent law, and the only way to block the raise is by attaching an amendment banning the COLA to any appropriations bill. In the past, amendments of that nature have traditionally been attached to the Treasury, Postal Service and general government spending bill.
Rep. Ernie Fletcher (R-Ky.), who has led the anti-COLA movement for the past two years, was traveling in his district Friday and could not be reached for comment on whether or not he will sponsor a COLA-blocking amendment this year.
Gary Ruskin, director of the Congressional Accountability Project, said the fact that the measure has become less controversial exemplifies how out of touch lawmakers are with their constituencies.
\"Given that this is perhaps the very most unpopular thing that a Member of Congress can do, I think it speaks volumes about the disconnect between both political parties and ordinary folk,\" Ruskin said.
In a May 1999 Princeton Survey Research poll, when asked how often Members of Congress should receive a pay raise, 8 percent of respondents said every year, while 41 percent said every two to five years. Fourteen percent said lawmakers should never get a pay raise.
Since 1989, Congressional salaries have grown by $55,600. In a letter last year to Daschle and then Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.), Ruskin and leaders of several other reform-oriented groups urged the Senate leadership not to support the pay increase, which they called a \"waste of taxpayer dollars\" and \"a violation of the public trust.\"
However, Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), the ranking member on the Treasury subcommittee and a longtime advocate of normalizing the COLA, believes the public appreciates the need for Members\' pay to increase incrementally.
\"Frankly, it is controversial only because I think we make it controversial,\" Hoyer said. \"I think that the public understands that cost-of-living adjustments are appropriate.
\"I don\'t find it to be controversial in my district, and I think most Members - now that we\'ve done it on a relatively regular basis - find that it\'s not particularly controversial in their districts and that people do understand staying human.\"
Although the amount of fanfare surrounding the COLA appears to have decreased over the years, another Member pay-oriented proposal made headlines recently.
Earlier this year some Members began pushing for a tax-free $165 per diem for each day Congress is in session. The measure, which had bipartisan support from House Administration Chairman Bob Ney (R-Ohio) as well as Reps. John Doolittle (R-Calif.) and Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), failed to gain the backing of Hastert and Gephardt.
John Bresnahan, Paul Kane and Stacy Humes-Schulz contributed to this report. |
See also:
http://www.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=46441&group=webcast
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