While Americans across the country are counting pennies, concerned about keeping a steady paycheck, lawmakers are getting a pay raise.
Elected officials giving themselves a pay raise is rarely popular, especially if you have an approval rating hovering around 10% (which is where it is now). Just ask the Pennsylvania state legislators that got voted out of office in 2005 after they stealthily increased their pay in the dark of the night. The legislature beat a hasty retreat a few months later but more than 20 lawmakers lost their elections over it.
Congress conveniently avoids the headache because back in 1989 the House set it up to make the pay raise automatic. The only way to stop the raise is to force a vote on it and both parties are loathe to let that happen. Some intrepid lawmakers like Reps. Mitchell (D-AZ), Paul (R-TX), Matheson (D-UT) and Sen. Feingold (D-WI) have introduced separate legislation to undo the process or stop a raise, only to find that their bills die an ignoble death in committee.
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