Vitter, McCaskill: End Automatic Pay Raises for Congress

Statement

U.S. Sens. David Vitter (R-La.) and Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) this week reintroduced bipartisan legislation to end automatic annual pay raises for members of Congress making it so any increase must be voted on.

"Too many Louisianians and folks across the country have lost their jobs or have been forced to accept pay freezes, and it makes no sense for Congress to continue automatically receiving annual raises without having to publicly vote on it," said Vitter. "We can start working together in a bipartisan fashion by flatly requiring any member of Congress who wants an automatic raise each year to publicly ask for, defend it, and explain it to their constituents by putting it to a vote."

"If Congress wants to give themselves a pay raise, they ought to vote on it in the light of day, and not hide behind automatic raises," said McCaskill, a former prosecutor and Missouri State Auditor. "Members of Congress have got a lot of work to do--to strengthen accountability in government, boost job opportunities, and cut wasteful spending--before they'll have earned a pay raise."

Vitter and McCaskill reintroduced this bill, which Vitter has introduced in previous Congresses, to repeal the provision of existing law that provides automatic pay adjustments for Members of Congress.

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