Lawmakers Promise To Give Up Pay Raise

Capitol Hill lawmakers are going to give up the automatic pay raise they're due next year. But lawmakers are pocketing the $5,000 salary hike they got at the beginning of this year.

By: Jamie Burch | WKRG-TV
Published: February 10, 2009

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WASHINGTON (AP) - The No. 2 Democrat in the House says Capitol
Hill lawmakers are going to give up the automatic pay raise they're
due next year.
Maryland Democrat Steny Hoyer says it would inappropriate for
Congress to take its annual cost of living pay hike in 2010 while
the economy is in such bad shape and so many people are losing
their jobs.
But lawmakers are going ahead and pocketing the $5,000 salary
hike they got at the beginning of this year to raise their salaries
to $174,000.
Congress automatically gets a cost of living pay increase under
a law passed 20 years ago. During years when it's politically
difficult, they'll give it up.

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)