Dateline: 12/26/01

By not voting to block it, Congress has quietly accepted a $4,900 a year cost-of-living pay increase, their third in four years. As of January, rank and file members will be paid $150,000 annually.

Under a complex system adopted in 1989, raises for Senator and Representatives are applied automatically unless a vote is taken to block them. These unpublicized, procedural votes typically take place late in the session -- and late at night.

This year, the vote came on December 7 at 10:31 pm EST, when the Senate defeated 33-65 a motion by Sen. Russell Feingold (D-Wisconsin) to "provide that Members of Congress shall not receive a cost-of-living adjustment in pay during fiscal year 2002."

Following the vote, Sen. Feingold stated he would turn down the raise and continue to accept the $136,700 he earned when first elected. Feingold stated, however that lawmakers are neither underpaid or overpaid. 

"I just think the process of an automatic pay raise system is wrong," said Feingold. "If we deserve a pay raise, we should have to vote on it."

Since 1990, congressional pay has increased steadily from $98,400 to $150,00 starting in January 2002.

Defenders of the automatic congressional pay raises compare lawmaker's salaries to the far higher incomes of private-sector executives and point out that Congress members also face the added expense of maintaining homes in both Washington and their home states. If anything, the argue, legislators are underpaid.

Congressional pay rates also affect the salaries for federal judges and other senior government officials.

The National Taxpayers Union, which opposed the pay raise, sent members of Congress a letter this year asking them to turn down the raise in light of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and their impact on taxpayers. The letter pointed out that Congress had twice voted to cut its pay during the Great Depression and froze its pay during World War II. "Apparently, they're having trouble paying the rent and buying groceries on $145,000 a year," stated Taxpayers Union spokesman Pete Sepp.

During the Constitutional Convention (1774-1789), Benjamin Franklin considered proposing that members of the new Congress should serve without pay, but other Founding Fathers convinced him otherwise.

From 1789 to 1815, members of Congress were paid $6.00 per day while in session. Members began receiving an annual salary of $1,500 in 1815. 

While the 27th Amendment to the Constitution states that no laws regarding congressional salaries can go into effect until after a congressional election, the amendment does not apply to the annual cost-of-living increases. Under the 1989 law, the cost-of-living increases are part of the annual pay increases recommended by the president for all federal employees.