[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 46 (Tuesday, March 17, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3128-S3129]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          AUTOMATIC PAY RAISES

  Mr. VITTER. Madam President, I rise again to discuss the issue of 
automatic pay raises for Members of Congress. As I said in our debate 
on the omnibus spending bill last week, I think this system of 
automatic pay raises--pay raises for Members of Congress on autopilot, 
without the need for any legislation, any debate, any vote--is truly 
wrong and truly offensive. I believe it is in the best of times, but I 
believe it is triply wrong and offensive right now as Americans all 
over our country, who have to work hard in the real world, face dire 
economic challenges and conditions.
  I rise again to urge us to act, to do the right thing, to rebuild 
confidence among the American people by changing this system and no 
longer having automatic pay raises for Members of Congress. I proposed 
doing this as an amendment on the Omnibus appropriations bill. After 
some difficulty in getting my amendment even recognized and debated and 
voted on, I finally was able to do that and we had a meaningful debate. 
We had a vote. It was a close vote. Unfortunately, from my perspective, 
I fell a little bit short in terms of agreeing to the amendment. It was 
defeated 52 to 45. But in that process we did have an important debate 
and several other Members came forward and expressed support for the 
concept--most notably the majority leader, Senator Reid. In fact, the 
very day after I finally secured a debate and a vote on my amendment, 
the day after that Senator Reid introduced his own freestanding bill to 
get rid of automatic pay raises, at least after the next one scheduled, 
and to do away with that process.
  Obviously, I completely agree with that concept. That is the whole 
impetus for my work, along with Senator Feingold of Wisconsin and my 
other coauthors, Senator Ensign and Senator Grassley.
  During the debate on this issue, Senator Reid went further. He spoke 
on the floor in support of this effort. He said several things:


[[Page S3129]]


       I agree with Senator Vitter that cost-of-living adjustments 
     for Members of Congress should not be automatic. That is why 
     I introduced a freestanding bill last week that would do just 
     that.

  In addition, in the same time on the floor, Senator Reid said:

       If there are people who don't want to agree to this 
     tonight, assuming the Senator from Louisiana is that person, 
     I will bring it up some other time. I am committed to doing 
     this.

  Again:

       I will bring it up some other time. I am committed to doing 
     this.

  I objected to bringing that freestanding bill up then because it 
clearly would have drained votes in support of my amendment away from 
my amendment and helped defeat it. In fact, we saw how close that vote 
was. But now that that vote is over, I applaud Senator Reid for his 
offer:

       I will bring it up some other time. I am committed to doing 
     this.

  I am here to say that this time, right now, these next 2 weeks, is a 
perfect ``some other time.'' We are clearly in a bit of a lull in terms 
of floor activity, this week and next week, before we begin an 
important debate on the budget. The majority leader is looking for 
things to take up our floor time. We are clearly in a light period. So 
what better ``some other time'' than right here, right now? In that 
spirit, and in the spirit of cooperation to move forward, I sent the 
majority leader a letter last Thursday and I expressed these thoughts 
and I asked him to bring up his freestanding bill, or mine, or any 
freestanding bill to end pay raises for Members of Congress being on 
autopilot on the Senate floor as soon as possible. As I pointed out, 
this clearly has support to move this through the process, through the 
Senate in the near future.
  It does not have unanimous support. Any issue such as this never 
would have unanimous support. But it has the support of over 60 Members 
of this body.
  Why do I say that? It is simple math. On the vote on my amendment I 
obtained 45 ``yes'' votes. In addition to those 45 votes, there were 20 
Members, including the distinguished majority leader, who voted against 
my amendment, saying that the only reason they were doing that was to 
not burden the omnibus spending bill with the amendment. They said on 
the record, they are for the concept and Senator Reid introduced a 
freestanding bill in this body and he has coauthors to that 
freestanding bill in that number--20. It is simple math. If you add 45 
and 20 you come up with 65, well over a filibuster-proof number, well 
over the 60 votes required to not only move this bill through the 
Senate but move it through in a fairly expedited, efficient, quick 
process.
  The perfect time is now. We are clearly in 2 weeks of relative lull 
before the debate on the budget. The majority leader clearly is looking 
for important business to bring to the floor, particularly since cram-
down and other issues are not being brought to the floor this week as 
planned. What better time to come together in a bipartisan way, to 
rebuild the confidence of the American people and to get this done, 
passing it through the Senate. Again:

       I will bring it up some other time. I am committed to doing 
     this.

  The distinguished majority leader.
  Again I ask the majority leader in a spirit of bipartisanship, of 
cooperation, of reestablishing the confidence of the American people in 
Congress by doing away with this offensive practice--pay raises on 
autopilot without debate, without legislation, without a vote, without 
even a line item in an appropriations bill which we can try to change 
through amendment--let's change that wrong and offensive practice.
  I urge the distinguished majority leader to look at my letter of last 
Thursday, to consider it carefully, to understand that we have 
established through his bill, through my vote, 65 votes in support of 
doing away with this on the Senate floor. So let's act. With 65 votes 
we can act, we can be successful, and we can do it in a very efficient 
manner. What better time to do it than right now?
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mrs. BOXER. I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum 
call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Begich). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  Mrs. BOXER. What is the order, please?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. There is 7 minutes remaining in morning 
business.

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