Reply #14: Increase of about $4,700 for 2009. There was some dancing about

[Obamanaut]

on the issue, but they ended up with $4,700 for a pay raise for this year. “They say” they won’t take one in 2010, but because they must vote NOT to get one, I won’t be holding my breath..



<snip>
With the economy in turmoil, members of Congress are particularly sensitive to the pitfalls of publicly backing automatic pay raises for themselves. At the same time, they know that if they ban the automatic raises, they will be forced, in the future, to hold a vote every time they want their salaries to go up. And there is never a good time for headlines about relatively rich public officials deciding to give themselves more taxpayer money.
<snip>
Instead, Reid said, let’s come up with a stand-alone bill on automatic pay raises that doesn’t need to be attached to the spending bill, but that has the same effect.

Vitter said he didn’t like that idea, because the bill could be ignored by the leadership and never come to a vote, like so many before it. So he forced a vote on his amendment to the spending bill. He lost, and the proposal was kept out of the bill. Reid, meanwhile, promised to take the stand-alone bill seriously and said he was “committed to doing this.”

But there is no word on when, or if, Reid might bring the bill up in the Senate, however. As for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, she refused Thursday to say if she will hold a vote on the stand-alone bill. She did note, however, that Congress voted this week not to take a pay raise next year.
<more at link>


http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/03/13/politics/politicalhotsheet/entry4863877.shtml