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House Won’t Follow Feingold’s Lead on Pay Raises

House Democrats are set to rebuff a request by Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) that they clear a bill abolishing the automatic pay raises received by Members of Congress.

Feingold’s bill passed the Senate unanimously in March 2009, but it hasn’t been considered by the House.

“No one doubts that if that bill came to the floor for a vote, it would pass overwhelmingly,” Feingold said in a statement Monday. “All that stands between ending the current system of back-door congressional pay hikes is a few minutes of the House’s time, and the president’s signature.”

But a senior House Democratic aide noted that Democrats already have frozen Members’ pay for 2010 and 2011.

“There are no plans to take up measures that are not emergency priorities tomorrow,” the aide said. “Clearly, since we’ve already frozen pay for 2011, this is decidedly not an emergency.”

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