[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 15 (Monday, January 26, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Pages S834-S835]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. FEINGOLD.
  S. 317. A bill to repeal the provision of law that provides automatic 
pay adjustments for Members of Congress; to the Committee on Homeland 
Security and Governmental Affairs.
  Mr. FEINGOLD. Mr. President, I am pleased to reintroduce legislation 
that would put an end to automatic pay raises for Members of Congress.
  As I have noted when I raised this issue in past years, because 
Congress has the authority to raise its own pay, something that most of 
our constituents cannot do, it ought to exercise that authority openly, 
and subject to regular procedures including debate, amendment, and a 
vote on the record.
  Regrettably, current law allows Congress to avoid that open debate 
and public vote. All that is necessary for Congress to get a pay raise 
is that nothing be done to stop it. The annual pay raise takes effect 
unless Congress acts to prevent it.
  This stealth system of pay raises began with a change Congress 
enacted in the Ethics Reform Act of 1989. On occasion, Congress has 
voted to deny itself the raise, and the traditional vehicle for the pay 
raise vote is the Treasury or more recently the Financial Services 
Appropriations bill. But as I have noted before, that vehicle is not 
always made available to those who want a public debate and vote on the 
matter. Last year, for example, Congress enacted a consolidated 
appropriations bill in which all but three appropriations bills were 
included. The traditional vehicle for the pay raise vote, the Financial 
Services Appropriations bill, was included in the massive consolidated 
appropriations bill, along with funding for eight other appropriations 
bills. Amendments to that consolidated appropriations bill were 
effectively shut off, thus, in particular, preventing any amendment 
that would have stopped the automatic pay raise from going into effect 
three months later in January of 2009. I voted against the consolidated 
appropriations bill in part because it did not permit an up or down 
vote on the Member pay raise.
  Sadly this is not an uncommon situation. As I have noted in the past, 
getting a vote on the annual congressional pay raise is a haphazard 
affair at best, and it should not be that way. The burden should not be 
on those who seek a public debate and recorded vote on the Member pay 
raise. On the contrary, Congress should have to act if it decides to 
award itself a hike in pay. This process of pay raises without 
accountability must end.
  This issue is not a new question. It was something that our Founders 
considered from the beginning of our Nation. In August of 1789, as part 
of the package of 12 amendments advocated by James Madison that 
included what has become our Bill of Rights, the House of 
Representatives passed an amendment to the Constitution providing that 
Congress could not raise its pay without an intervening election. On 
September 9, 1789, the Senate passed that amendment. In late September 
of 1789, Congress submitted the amendments to the States.
  Although the amendment on pay raises languished for 2 centuries, in 
the 1980s, a campaign began to ratify it. While I was a member of the 
Wisconsin State Senate, I was proud to help ratify the amendment. Its 
approval by the Michigan legislature on May 7, 1992, gave it the needed 
approval by \3/4\ of the States.
  The 27th Amendment to the Constitution now states: ``No law, varying 
the compensation for the services of the senators and representatives, 
shall take effect, until an election of representatives shall have 
intervened.''
  I honor that limitation. Throughout my 6-year term, I accept only the 
rate of pay that Senators receive on the date on which I was sworn in 
as a Senator. And I return to the Treasury any additional income 
Senators get, whether from a cost-of-living adjustment or a pay raise 
we vote for ourselves. I don't take a raise until my bosses, the people 
of Wisconsin, give me one at the ballot box. That is the spirit of the 
27th Amendment. At the very least, the stealth pay raises like the one 
that Congress allowed for 2009 certainly violate the spirit of that 
amendment.

[[Page S835]]

  This practice must end and this bill will end it. Senators and 
Congressmen should have to vote up-or-down to raise their pay, and my 
bill would require just that. We owe our constituents nothing less.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be 
printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be 
printed in the Record, as follows:

                                 S. 317

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. ELIMINATION OF AUTOMATIC PAY ADJUSTMENTS FOR 
                   MEMBERS OF CONGRESS.

       (a) In General.--Paragraph (2) of section 601(a) of the 
     Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946 (2 U.S.C. 31) is 
     repealed.
       (b) Technical and Conforming Amendments.--Section 601(a)(1) 
     of such Act is amended--
       (1) by striking ``(a)(1)'' and inserting ``(a)'';
       (2) by redesignating subparagraphs (A), (B), and (C) as 
     paragraphs (1), (2), and (3), respectively; and
       (3) by striking ``as adjusted by paragraph (2) of this 
     subsection'' and inserting ``adjusted as provided by law''.
       (c) Effective Date.--This section shall take effect on 
     February 1, 2011.
                                 ______