[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 12]
[Senate]
[Page 17783]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                     AUTOMATIC MEMBER PAY INCREASE

  Mr. FEINGOLD. Mr. President, there is a great sense of unity across 
the Nation as we begin to recover from the events of September 11. The 
President's speech last week gave both comfort and strength to the 
American people and to people around the globe.
  I have been heartened by the bipartisan unity demonstrated by 
Congress as it acts to respond to the human and economic devastation, 
and we will need to maintain that unity as we ask for the sacrifices 
necessary to end this business.
  Given all that has happened and all that will happen, it is all the 
more inappropriate for Congress to accept a $4,900 backdoor pay raise.
  Of course, I believe the automatic pay raise is never appropriate. As 
my colleagues are aware, it is an unusual thing to have the power to 
raise our own pay. Few people have that ability. Most of our 
constituents do not have that power. And that this power is so unusual 
is good reason for the Congress to exercise that power openly, and to 
exercise it subject to regular procedures that include debate, 
amendment, and a vote on the Record.
  This process of pay raises without accountability must end. It is 
offensive. It is wrong. And it is unconstitutional.
  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. Almost exactly 212 years ago, 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 two 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 three-fourths 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 try to honor that limitation in my own practices. In my own case, 
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.
  This practice must end, and earlier this year I reintroduced 
legislation to end the automatic cost-of-living adjustment for 
congressional pay.
  But we should not wait to enact that law to say ``no'' to the $4,900 
pay raise that will go into effect beginning next year.
  To that end, I call upon the leadership of both parties to work 
together, in the spirit of the bipartisan unity we have seen flourish 
in recent days, to stop the pay raise that is scheduled to go into 
effect in 2002.
  I very much hope it will not be necessary to fight this issue out on 
the floor of the Senate. I have an amendment prepared to stop this 
backdoor pay raise, and am willing to offer it if that becomes 
necessary, but I want to give our leadership the opportunity to respond 
and to act together.
  We are spending the hard-earned tax dollars of millions of Americans 
to recover from the horrific events of September 11 and to ensure that 
it does not happen again.
  And right this minute, our Nation is sending the men and women of our 
Armed Services into harm's way.
  This is not the time for Congress to accept a pay raise, and I am 
confident that upon reflection, Members of the Senate and the other 
body will want to stop this automatic pay raise from taking effect.
  Let's stop this backdoor pay raise right now, and then, let's enact 
legislation to end this practice once and for all.

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