Critics urge Congress to rescind raise
12/31/2008WASHINGTON - Members of Congress have at least one reason to ring in the new year: They've given themselves a $4,700-a-year pay raise starting tomorrow.
But members are under fire to rescind the increase, which will raise their base salaries roughly 3 percent to $174,000.
The raise will boost the pay of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) by about $6,100 to nearly $223,500.
Critics have put forth an idea for the first vote when Congress begins a new session Tuesday: Block the raise for all 535 senators and representatives.
"When you look at the rest of the country, people are hoping to hang on to their jobs, much less get a salary increase or a bonus," said Steve Ellis, vice president of the watchdog group Taxpayers for Common Sense.
Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D., Toledo) will follow her practice of more than 20 years: She will donate "her pay increase to charitable causes in the area," said Steve Fought, a Kaptur spokesman.
The funds, which cumulatively amount to more than $20,000 a year, are administered by the Toledo Community Foundation. She suggests ways the money is given out.
A focus in recent years has been local charities "that are designing sustainable solutions" to hunger, Mr. Fought said.
Congress does not allow her to reject the pay raises outright, Mr. Fought said.
Rep. Bob Latta (R., Bowling Green) agreed with the call for the pay raise to be rescinded.
"Speaker Pelosi and [Senate] Leader [Harry] Reid over there, both of them have the power, and they're very good at bringing bills to the floor without committee hearings," Mr. Latta said. "They could have a bill drafted and there right after we get sworn in.
"It's up to them to allow [a bill] to be brought to the floor immediately," he said. "The country's in a tough situation, and there are folks that are suffering."
He said that if the increase is not rescinded, he plans to donate his raise. He and his wife have discussed two humanitarian groups that have strong northwest Ohio ties, he said.
Rep. Jim Jordan (R., Urbana) said he would support any move to rescind the raise.
"We need not only to control pay for members of Congress, but overall government spending," he said. "If there's a move to say, look, let's not have this pay raise go into effect, I'm for that, too."
When told of Miss Kaptur's donation of her raises, Mr. Jordan said, "God bless her, that's fine. We give to certain organizations that we think are doing good works. We'll continue to do that."
Mr. Jordan said that he and his wife decide the amount of their charitable giving each year, based on income. As for the $4,700 raise, whether their giving will increase "to the penny, I couldn't tell you," he said.
Rep. John Dingell (D., Dearborn) could not be reached for comment, nor could Mark Schauer, the Democratic state senator from Battle Creek, Mich., who joins Congress after ousting first-term Rep. Tim Walberg last month.