House to Vote on Bill Blocking Members’ Pay Increase
Updated: 12:09 p.m.
The House will vote Tuesday on a bill that would freeze Members’ pay next year, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said.
Democratic leaders added the item to the agenda Monday night. It will move under rules that bar amendments and require a two-thirds vote for passage.
Hoping to avoid the political problems associated with getting a pay increase with so many Americans out of work, lawmakers have for the past few years canceled their automatic, annual cost-of-living increase set up in the Ethics Reform Act of 1989.
The House’s move to cancel the pay raise comes on the heels of Senate passage of a similar bill introduced by Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis). The Senate Budget Committee also moved forward on the issue last week, accepting an amendment to the 2011 budget resolution that calls for stopping the automatic raise and barring Congress from passing any bill to get a 2011 raise.