-------- Original Message -------- Subject: Stop the $3,800 congressional pay raise Date: Wed, 26 Jul 2000 22:32:33 -0500 (CDT) From: Gary Ruskin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Organization: http://www.essential.org/orgs/CAP/CAP.html To: undisclosed-recipients:; Congressional Reform Briefings July 26, 2000 Opponents of the proposed $3,800 congressional pay raise sent letters today to Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-MS) and House Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-SD) urging them to turn down the pay raise. The letter follows. Dear Majority Leader Lott and Minority Leader Daschle: We urge you to reject the proposed $3,800 congressional pay raise, which would lift the base congressional salary to $145,100 per year. Members of Congress neither deserve nor need this raise. They are already overpaid, enjoying a lavish $141,300 base annual salary, plus pensions, benefits, perquisites, a special $3,000 annual tax deduction, as well as loopholes to facilitate junketeering and some personal use of campaign funds. This is more than enough to provide a high-flying lifestyle that befits princes more than public servants. Over the last decade, Members of Congress have been quick to give themselves pay hike after pay hike. Since the infamous 1989 midnight congressional paygrab, House Members have received six raises, Senators seven. Congressional salaries grew by $51,800 -- about $17,000 above inflation. In 1989, the base congressional salary was $89,500 per year. Such profiteering from the public purse is especially grating when our federal government is deep in debt. Given the enormous $5.7 trillion burden of federal debt, Members of Congress should lead by example, and decline to further overcompensate themselves. This effort at self-enrichment is waste of taxpayer dollars, an insult to the taxpayers, and a violation of the public trust. It detracts from the dignity of Congress, as well as its moral authority to govern. Perhaps no congressional act is more unpopular than a congressional pay raise. Please listen to your constituents: exercise dignified self-restraint, and forgo the pay raise. Sincerely, Gary Ruskin, Director, Congressional Accountability Project Paul Jacob, National Director, U.S. Term Limits Paul Weyrich, President, Free Congress Foundation Peter J. Sepp, Vice President for Communications, National Taxpayers Union Jim Mangia, National Secretary, Reform Party of the United States of America Steve Dasbach, National Director, Libertarian National Committee Ted Muga, Chairman, American Reform Party <--------letter ends here----------> WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP: Please ask your U.S. Senators to oppose the congressional pay raise. The Congressional switchboard phone is (202) 225-3121. To find the fax numbers and e-mail addresses of Members of Congress, see <http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/ziptoit.html>. Following are three editorials about the proposed congressional pay raise. Boston Herald, July 22, 2000 Pay Raises Beyond Party With the economy humming, members of the U.S. House decided to reward themselves with a healthy pay raise. Democrats think there isn't enough in the budget surplus for a tax cut while Republicans are wary of new spending. But the leadership of the two parties can agree on one thing - that upping their paychecks is always in order. Lawmakers voted 250-173 to RELUCTANTLY accept a 2.7 percent increase, raising their salaries by $ 3,800 beginning Jan. 1. This is their third pay raise in four years. Hey, they're only getting a measly $ 141,300 plus benefits now. How ever do they make ends meet?... Legislators are the only employees who can give themselves a raise. Congress has even arranged things so it has to vote AGAINST a pay raise, otherwise members get it automatically. During the few minutes of debate on the latest congressional pay grab, no one spoke in favor of the measure (It's hard to get up and say, "We really deserve this.") and only two members complained. This is one vote congressmen probably won't brag about in the fall campaign. <---------------> Las Vegas Review-Journal, July 23, 2000 Backdoor Raise Nobody had the guts to speak against it, but an effort to kill an automatic congressional pay raise failed handily last week. Beginning in January, members of Congress will make $ 145,100 a year, up 2.7 percent. It's their third raise in four years.... The problem here isn't that our federal senators and representatives don't deserve to be well compensated, but rather that this whole process is a crock. First, the notion that those making six-figure salaries need a 'cost of living' adjustment is a perversion of the concept. Low-wage workers need such raises to stay ahead of inflation; the wealthy can fend for themselves. Second, the law Congress uses to give itself more money is of dubious constitutionality. Passed in 1989, it shields Congress from controversy by granting the raises automatically unless members vote to block them. But in 1992, the 27th Amendment was ratified. It states, 'No law, varying compensation for the services of the senators and representatives, shall take effect, until an election of representatives shall have intervened.' The obvious intent is to force members of Congress to face voters before they may collect the higher pay. That objective will be accomplished in this case, given the November elections. But previous raises under the 1989 law have been awarded during nonelection years -- yet the courts have signed off, holding the backdoor hikes don't violate the Constitution because they kicked in automatically, not as a result of a new 'law.' Thus the federal judiciary has abetted congressional efforts to render the 27th Amendment moot. In order to restore the integrity of the process and the 27th Amendment, Congress should repeal the cowardly 1989 legislation. Then whenever members want a raise, they can publicly debate the issue and go on the record with 'yeah' or 'nay.' <----------------> The Florida Times-Union, July 13, 2000 Congress: Meeting of the Minds In this contentious election year, there seems to be only one issue that congressional leaders of both parties view as so vital to the national interest that they are duty-bound to rise above petty politics and present a united, bipartisan front. That issue, of course, is a congressional pay raise. We won't keep you in suspense. Politicians favor the proposal. Under a 1989 law, members are automatically entitled to a raise every year unless they vote specifically not to accept it, which has been done in the past, through an amendment to the Treasury Department appropriations bill. Last month, however, the leadership on both sides of the aisle agreed not to attack the other's incumbents for supporting higher pay. The Treasury funding bill passed a House subcommittee Tuesday with the raise intact. Unless something unexpected happens on the House or Senate floor, members will get a $ 3,800 increase in January -- lifting their salaries to more than $ 145,000 a year, plus perks. 'The Bible says the worker is worthy of his hire,' House Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas, said. 'These members of Congress on both sides of the aisle work hard.' Most other people also work hard, and they make a fraction of that amount. This raise is Robin Hood in reverse, taking from the poor (taxing people who make far less) and giving it to the rich (members of Congress). It's hard to imagine, but members of Congress were paid just $ 44,600 in 1975. A local congressional aide once argued that his boss really was not getting a raise, only a cost-of-living adjustment. That's fine for Capitol Hill, where increasing spending by a billion dollars isn't 'increasing spending' because of baseline budgeting. But it's difficult for people outside the Beltway to understand why it isn't a pay increase when pay is increased. Most people don't get raises, or COLAS, automatically, regardless of job performance. An argument might be made that Congress deserves a raise as a reward for the budget surplus. But that resulted from a healthy economy, not tough decisions made in Washington. Congress, admittedly with some prodding from the White House, has been spending some of the surplus instead of using all of it for debt reduction and tax relief. Congress got just a 39 percent approval rating -- 52 percent disapproval -- in the most recent Gallup Poll. Don't look for those numbers to shoot skyward anytime soon. <-------------> The Congressional Accountability Project opposes corruption in the U.S. Congress. For more information, see our website at <http://www.essential.org/orgs/CAP/CAP.html>. Congressional Reform Briefings are distributed electronically via the cong-reform mailing list <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. To subscribe to the cong-reform mailing list, go to <http://lists.essential.org/mailman/listinfo/cong-reform> or send the word "subscribe" to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. PLEASE DISTRIBUTE WIDELY -- --------------------------------------------------------------- Gary Ruskin | Congressional Accountability Project 1611 Connecticut Ave. NW, Suite #3A | Washington, DC 20009 Phone: (202) 296-2787 | Fax (202) 833-2406 http://www.essential.org/orgs/CAP/CAP.html | mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] | -------------------------------------------------------------- _______________________________________________ Cong-reform mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://lists.essential.org/mailman/listinfo/cong-reform <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'�with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds�is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. 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