Mitchell Blocks Congressional Pay Raise

Press Release

he House today passed a bill sponsored by U.S. Reps. Harry Mitchell and Jim Matheson to block the automatic Congressional pay raise for Fiscal Year (FY) 2011 by a vote of 402-15.

"Right now we need our focus to be on getting people back to work, shoring up the economy and keeping our families and communities safe," said Mitchell, who has led efforts to stop Congressional pay raises since taking office in 2007. "A pay raise for Members of Congress would have seemed glaringly out of touch. The American people are not getting a raise this year. Neither should Congress."

H.R. 5146, the Cancel the Pay Raise for Members of Congress in Fiscal Year 2011 Act, is nearly identical to the bill passed by the Senate last Thursday, S.3244. That same day, Mitchell called on the House to swiftly follow the Senate's lead and take up his bill, H.R. 4255, the Stop the Automatic Pay Raise for Members of Congress in FY2011 Act.

Reps. Mitchell and Ron Paul (R-Texas) have led the charge in the House to stop Congressional pay increases, last year proposing legislation in the House that ultimately blocked this year's FY 2010 pay raise, and proposing a new bill this year to block a pay raise for Members of Congress in FY 2011. As of Tuesday, the legislation had gained broad bipartisan support from 132 co-sponsors, nearly a third of the members in the House. The National Taxpayers Union and Citizens Against Government Waste have also endorsed H.R. 4255.

Last night, Mitchell agreed to offer a new bill with language that more closely tracked the Senate passed version.

Today he took to the floor of the House today to urge his colleagues to join him in voting for H.R. 5146, to block the pay raise.

"With unemployment high and so many families under stress, it would be simply unconscionable for Congress to raise its own pay," said Mitchell.

View full floor speech here.

Last year, Mitchell and Paul successfully led efforts to block the FY 2010 pay raise after introducing similar legislation, H.R. 156, which garnered 118 cosponsors. As a result, members of Congress did not receive an anticipated $4,700 raise in 2009, which has saved taxpayers approximately $2.5 million. [Source: The Hill, December 17, 2008]

Mitchell and Paul also introduced legislation to block the FY2009 pay raise, which, despite gaining 34 bipartisan cosponsors, did not reach the floor of the House for a vote. Mitchell offered a similar bill in 2007, H.R. 2934, to block the FY2008 pay raise, which attracted 29 co-sponsors.

For FY 2011, Members were scheduled to receive a 0.9 percent adjustment, which would increase the base member salary by $1,600. [Source: Congressional Research Service, April 16, 2010]

In 2008, when Mitchell received a pay raise over his objection, he donated his pay raise to Arizona charities. Mitchell did the same with his 2009 pay raise, and last month donated his pay raise to 17 local organizations. [Source: The Arizona Republic, March 10, 2010]

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