Feingold takes stand against automatic pay raises for Congress

From Senator Russ Feingold’s blog:

As you may know, I don’t take pay raises during each of my six-year terms in office, and I return such increases to the Treasury Department. And I pleased that this year during a time of major economic woes Congress voted down a 2009 pay raise for itself. But trust me, after pressing this issue for a number of Congresses, that’s usually not the case, and if we don’t act, Congress is scheduled to get another raise come 2010.

Last evening, Senator Harry Reid and I were able to pass through the Senate legislation that ends the automatic pay raise system. If this legislation makes it through the House, and is signed by the President, that means that when Congress wants to give itself a raise in the future, it must do so through legislation, in the light of day.

But this bill has to make it through the House first and while I’m hopeful that members will do the right thing, I’m concerned that far too many still don’t get it.

I’m glad to see someone working to put an end to automatic pay raises for legislators. I’ve always been of the belief that if legislators want pay raises, they should debate and vote on those pay raises, rather than letting them happen automatically. What’s more, during economic times like these, I fail to understand how any legislator deserves a pay raise.

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5 thoughts on “Feingold takes stand against automatic pay raises for Congress

  1. Just playing devil’s advocate here:

    Do we really want them taking valuable, even precious time debating this? Is it really worth it? Wouldn’t we all get off cheaper if we saved the time?

    For example many police, fire, and teachers have relatively automatic schedule and grades…doesn’t that save allota time in debate and save us all time and money?

    *talk amoungkst urselveska*

    1. Au contraire – the more time they spend debating this, the less time they have to spend debating things that could do real damage.

      I’ve always thought the physican’s mantra should be applied to government as well. First, do no harm.

  2. Rich, I see the point you’re making, but I disagree. I think debate is never a bad thing, especially when it comes to how tax dollars are spent.

  3. Gosh….I would a millionaire like Feingold does NOT need a pay raise…EVER! It is something of a stretch for me to congratulate Feingold in his stand against automatic raises. He voted FOR the most expensive health care changes ever; He can hardly be called a fiscal conservative. I vote No for Feingold.

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