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Bad Economy May Not Stop Congressional Pay Raise

Three Tampa Area Lawmakers Would Give Up Automatic Increase

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BILLY HOUSE

Published: December 24, 2008

WASHINGTON - With the economy teetering and thousands of Floridians and other Americans losing their jobs, three Tampa Bay members of Congress say they would vote to give up their automatic $4,700 pay raise next year.

Sen. Mel Martinez, a Republican, and GOP Reps. Gus Bilirakis of Palm Harbor and Ginny-Brown Waite of Brooksville would each vote to block the raise, if House and Senate leaders allow such a vote, say their offices.

The offices of the four other Bay area federal lawmakers either have not returned telephone calls or declined to immediately comment on whether they'd support scrapping the raise, which would hike average lawmaker salaries 2.8 percent to $174,000.

Democrats who control the House and Senate aren't saying whether they are considering to allow a vote to freeze salaries for all lawmakers.

But others say they should.

"While thousands of Americans are facing layoffs and downsizing Congress should be mortified to accept a raise," said Tom Schatz, president of the Washington-based Council for Citizens Against Government Waste.

"Members of Congress don't deserve one additional dime of taxpayer money in 2009," he said. Schatz and others want House and Senate members to make their first order of business when they convene their new session in January to freeze their salaries at current rates.

But some lawmakers contend these are not even pay raises, but formula-driven cost-of living-adjustments.

Members of Congress have guaranteed themselves these regular increases typically without full public debate or even votes under a 1989 law that pegs the hikes to the Labor Department's Employment Cost Index.

Congress has decided to reject pay raises only six times since then. The most recent was in 2007, when the newly Democratic-controlled House and Senate majorities blocked the increase in a dispute over the whether the minimum wage should be hiked before lawmakers boosted their pay.

But the raise slated for January will be automatic, unless Congress acts to prevent it.Martinez said he would support blocking the increase, even though, he says, Americans are looking now to Congress for more than symbolic gestures.

"I would also hope the Congress could quickly act on a housing market stimulus and foreclosure avoidance package," added Martinez. "Americans want more than symbolism, the want a vibrant economy and getting at the housing crisis should be job number one."

Bilirakis also believes Congress should vote to block the automatic pay raise, said his spokesman, Dave Peluso.

Brown-Waite's office noted that she has supported legislation in the past to eliminate the automatic pay adjustments for members of Congress.

"While I recognize that compensation for federal employees should keep pace with inflation and the private sector, members of Congress do not need to be included in the increases," Brown-Waite has told constituents in letters on the topic.

Comments on the idea of scrapping the upcoming pay raise could not be immediately obtained from the offices of Sen. Bill Nelson and Rep. Kathy Castor, both Democrats, and GOP Reps. Adam Putnam of Bartow or C.W. Bill Young of Indian Shores.

The debate over whether Congress should get a pay raise comes as Florida's unemployment rate jumped in November to 7.3 percent, with an estimated 680,000 Floridians out of work. That is outpacing the overall U.S. unemployment rate of 6.7 percent. The last time Florida's rate was so high was in June 1993.

The congressional pay discussion also comes as the federal deficit is on pace to reach $1 trillion, and the national debt stands at $10 trillion.

Reporter Billy House can be reached at 1 (202) 662-7673.

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