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Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Delegation Against 2010 Raise
By Michael Coleman
Journal Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON — Taking a cue from President Obama and the ailing economy, members of New Mexico's all-Democratic congressional delegation say they will support a bill to block their automatic, annual pay raise next year.
Rep. Harry Teague was the first to announce — on the same day he was sworn into Congress — his willingness to forgo next year's scheduled $4,700 pay raise.
"Nearly two million Americans lost their jobs this past year," Teague said in a statement Jan. 7. "Congress giving itself an automatic pay raise at a time like this is just plain wrong."
Rep. Martin Heinrich followed suit last week, announcing he would support the bill. Rep. Ben Ray Luján said through a spokesman Monday that he also would vote to kill the raise, scheduled to go into effect in January 2010.
The measure to block the raise that was introduced in the House earlier this month had about 90 co-sponsors on Monday night. A Senate version of the bill was introduced by Sen. David Vitter, R-La., but it had no co-sponsors late Monday.
Members of Congress earn $174,000 annually. The congressional pay raise is automatic each January — thanks to a bill Congress passed in 1989 — unless the House and Senate vote specifically to reject it. Lawmakers have historically been reluctant to block the pay raise, although it is a perennial source of criticism from some voters.
Keith Ashdown, a spokesman for Taxpayers for Common Sense, a Washington-based budget watchdog group, predicted that the legislation would pass this year. He said Obama gave lawmakers a nudge last week when he announced salary freezes for senior White House staff.
"Whoever doesn't support it is risking their political future," Ashdown said. "It's a bad time economically, people are hurting and they want to see their elected officials sharing in their pain."
Sen. Jeff Bingaman, who has historically opposed freezing congressional pay, said he would defer to congressional leadership this year.
"President Obama has set an example by freezing the pay for his top advisers," Bingaman said Monday. "If the leadership of Congress thinks it's appropriate for us to follow his lead, I would be glad to support that."
Sen. Tom Udall said his conscience would not allow him to oppose a bill blocking the raise.
"Families throughout America are being crushed under the weight of our struggling economy right now," Udall said. "Until we get our spending under control and our economy back on track, I cannot in good conscience vote for a pay raise for Congress."
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