Vitter: End Automatic Pay Raises for Congress

(Washington, D.C.) – U.S. Sen. David Vitter this week reintroduced his bill to end automatic annual raises for members of Congress, so that any increase must be voted on.

“Many employees in Louisiana and across the country have lost their jobs or been forced to accept pay freezes, and it makes no sense for Congress to continue automatically receiving annual raises without having to publicly vote on it. If members of Congress want a raise, they should have to explain to the American people why they deserve it, rather than automatically receiving it year in and year out,” said Vitter. Vitter’s bill reintroduced this week has received bipartisan support and is the latest step in his ongoing effort to eliminate automatic congressional pay increases. In 2009, the Senate adopted a provision nearly identical to Vitter’s, which sought to eliminate the annual raises for Congress, but the bill languished in the House as then-Speaker Pelosi never called it up for a vote. Vitter also introduced an amendment to last year’s budget to pay down the national debt with money originally intended for congressional pay raises. The text of an op-ed Vitter co-authored last Congress with former Democrat U.S. Sen. This legislation to end automatic pay raises is part of a package of nearly 40 bills Vitter introduced on the first day of the 112th Congress that senators were allowed to officially submit legislation.