Congressional lawmakers almost got a pay bump this year. Then it crashed and burned
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Lawmakers on Capitol Hill got close to getting their first salary bump in 15 years in a pre-Christmas bill to keep the government funded through the spring.
Tucked in the bill was a sentence that would have struck language from previous legislation blocking an automatic pay increase for lawmakers from taking effect, which was first reported by Bloomberg.
But the bill came under fire for being too broad in size and scope, and its contents were the subject of misinformation — including over the size of lawmakers’ cost of living increase.
“How can this be called a ‘continuing resolution’ if it includes a 40 percent pay increase for Congress?” posted top adviser to President-elect Donald Trump Elon Musk, who has a net worth of over $400 billion.
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In reality, the bill would have made members eligible for a cost of living increase of just 3.8 percent, or a roughly $6,600 increase.
“I was surprised to hear my pay was going up to $240,000 — that was news to me,” Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., mused at the time.
Congressional pay for rank-and-file members is $174,000 and hasn’t been adjusted since 2009.
Rep. Ritchie Torres, D-N.Y., said he thinks it’s reasonable for lawmakers to get equal treatment with the rest of the federal workforce, which does receive cost of living increases.
“We cannot operate as if there’s no inflation in the world,” Torres told NPR. “It turns out that members of Congress are subject to the impact of inflation as well — who would have thought?”
Political blowback
A 1989 statute includes an automatic pay raise for cost of living linked to the Employment Cost Index, but Congress has long blocked that increase from taking effect.
According to the Congressional Research Service, if members of Congress received those salary adjustments since 1992, their 2024 salary would be $243,300.
“When adjusted for inflation, member salaries have decreased 31 percent from 2009, when they last received a pay increase,” said Brandice Canes-Wrone, a political science professor at Stanford University.
“We now pay congressional members comparatively less than equivalent executive branch positions. Their salaries have gone down much more than the private sector in comparable positions,” she said in an interview. “Members of Congress are expected to maintain two residences, or be sleeping on the floor in their office and have their residence back in their district.”
The Constitution directs Congress to determine its own pay, but Canes-Wrone said even giving pay bumps to adjust for inflation has become somewhat of a political third rail, with members worried about political blowback for giving themselves a raise.
“It allows your challenger or an outside actor to say, oh, members are just enriching themselves,” she said.
But former Rep. Reid Ribble, who served in the House of Representatives from 2011 through 2016, said stagnant salaries have real consequences for the composition of Congress itself.
“It changes the makeup a lot,” the Wisconsin Republican said in an interview. “We have a real disincentive for people to run for Congress unless you’re a fairly affluent person. People think that $174,000 is a lot of money — and if you’re making $50 to $60,000, it appears that way. But having that separate place to live and providing utilities in a very expensive city, you burn through that money pretty quickly.”
A recent change allows members to claim reimbursement for some lodging expenses, aimed at helping those struggling to maintain two residences.
But Ribble, who is now retired, said that change still doesn’t address how salaries lag behind the rate of inflation.
“You want Congress to look like the American people. So you need young folks and older people, men and women, people from every race and religion, and every income strata in the country so that it more accurately represents what the American people look like,” he said. “And the more expensive it is to live in D.C., the less likely that you’re going to be able to have people to do that.”
Ultimately, Congress funded the government with different legislation. When the initial bill collapsed, so did any foreseeable plans to increase lawmakers’ pay.
Copyright 2024, NPR