Congress Pay Raise Allowed Under Funding Bill to Avert Shutdown

Members of Congress would be allowed their first pay raise since 2009 under a stopgap funding bill lawmakers aim to enact by Dec. 20.

Legislation to keep the government running through March 14 includes a provision to allow the automatic pay raise to go into effect. Lawmakers need to pass the measure this week in order to avoid a government shutdown.

Members of Congress are supposed to receive automatic, annual cost-of-living adjustments under a 1989 law. But they’ve consistently inserted provisions into government funding bills to block the raise from going into effect, fearing political blowback from voters.

The years-long pay freeze has made it less appealing for many to run for office, critics have said. Permitting the pay raise could add to complaints from conservatives who say the stopgap funding bill has grown bloated and that lawmakers already earn far more than the average American.

Lawmakers currently earn $174,000 annually, with higher pay for those in leadership posts.

House members initially sought to let a pay increase go forward in an appropriations bill last summer, but later blocked the raise. Senators also included the measure to block a raise in their funding bill last summer.

It is “damaging to our democracy that we are creating a scenario under which middle-class Americans cannot afford to serve in Congress,” Rep. Austin Scott (R-Ga.) said in July, after lawmakers advanced measures to keep the freeze in place.

The 1,547-page bill to keep the government running includes a range of policy add-ons, including more than $100 billion in disaster aid.