Wednesday, June 29, 2005

Your Hired Hands Want a $3,100 Pay Raise

The US House agreed to raise their salaries by $3,100 a year to $165,200 a year. Mind you, Congressmen get a yearly raise like this unless they vote against it. No vote was allowed, so the raise takes effect next year.

Purists, like House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX) argue that calling it a "pay raise" is wrong when it's really a COLA (Cost Of Living Adjustment):
"It's not a pay raise. It's an adjustment so that they're not losing their purchasing power."
--Tom DeLay (R-TX),
quoted on 2006 Congressional Pay Raise

Congress has allowed itself a raise every year since 1998. By the way, the minimum wage has been at $5.15 since Congress last raised it in 1996 -- two years before Congress' string of four digit pay raises for itself. (AP)


1 comment:

Chris Woods said...

That comment is bound to come back and bite him in the ass one of these days. I hope Democrats talk that one up constantly next year and that his Democratic opponent will make sure to talk about his wage hike while his constituents were left in the dust.