After taking the global economy hostage to secure painful cuts to aid programs and other federal spending, House Republicans are proposing a pay raise for themselves and other members of Congress for the coming fiscal year.
Roll Call reported Thursday that under spending legislation approved by the Republican-controlled House Appropriations Committee last month, members of Congress “would stand to receive a 4.6%, or $8,000, pay increase” in 2024. Most members of Congress currently make an annual salary of $174,000, putting them in the top 10% of U.S. earners.
“Lawmakers last received a cost-of-living increase in 2009,” the outlet noted, “but House Republicans left out the traditional language blocking a cost-of-living increase for members from this year’s Legislative Branch bill.”
House Legislative Branch Appropriations Chairman Mark Amodei (R-Nev.) told Roll Call that it is “not exactly greedy” to pursue a pay raise for lawmakers after more than a decade of no cost-of-living increase, but he acknowledged the optics are horrible.
“The policy supports, hey, once every twelve […]
If they steal money from Social Security which now pays me the same as the Federal Poverty rate, I may just become a thief to survive.