Does the House GOP's spending plan tee up a lawmaker pay raise?

Does the House GOP’s spending plan tee up a lawmaker pay raise?

Sep 30, 2023

Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, is clamoring to turn her party colleague against the House GOP’s stopgap spending bill — in part by alleging that it raises lawmaker pay.

But the truth is more complicated than that. Here’s what we know about the 45-day bill that House Republicans abruptly released on Saturday, pushing it to a vote hours before a scheduled shutdown.

The legislation does not include an explicit ban on any member pay increases, language that is included in the Senate’s separate, bipartisan spending patch. But it does extend the current fiscal year’s legislative branch spending bill, which had its own ban on member pay raises.

Part of the confusion taking hold on the Hill stems from the difference between the implicit inclusion of that pay raise ban, versus the Senate’s more explicit prohibition.

Of course, there’s another wrinkle here — the House GOP’s proposed budget for Congress in the next fiscal year (the one that technically starts on Sunday, Oct. 1) does include a member pay raise. A cost-of-living increase for members is an issue that Speaker Kevin McCarthy has gotten some pressure on from his own members.

Member pay has been frozen since 2009; the maximum potential member pay adjustment for 2024 under the new House proposal would be 4.6%, or $8,000.

And if you doubt that this is a big deal, just look at what Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) texted to his own people on Saturday: “Rosa DeLauro is lying on the floor. She said that there is a Member pay raise in the bill. That is NOT TRUE.”

Olivia Beavers contributed.

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