As we reported yesterday, Tim Walz was one of 181 members of Congress who voted against a procedural move related to an automatic pay raise for members of Congress. Since there was no straight up-or-down vote on an actual amendment, the vote was "in favor of the previous question." CQ Today explains the process better than we did:
But with a little help from across the aisle, House Democrats mustered a 244-181 vote Wednesday for a procedural maneuver that prevented critics of the pay raise from offering an amendment to block the next scheduled increase. . . .
. . .A 1989 law (PL 101-194) makes an annual pay adjustment automatic unless Congress votes to halt it, as happened for the current year. The hike is tied to the formula for federal employees’ pay raises. As has become custom, lawmakers debated the issue Wednesday night on the appropriations bill that funds the Treasury Department (>HR 2829).
But there was no clean vote on blocking the pay raise. Rather, there was a proxy vote, a roll call on whether to hold a vote on the rule governing debate for the bill (H Res 517).
As has been the case in the past, a coalition of politically safe Democrats and Republicans voted in favor of the “previous question,” ensuring that the pay raises for all lawmakers were never truly endangered.
It's interesting to read about the representatives' views about their own pay raises:
Few issues that come before Congress are as politically precarious or as personally important as members’ pay.
Jo Ann Emerson, R-Mo., who opposes the annual increases, said it is difficult to justify to constituents with a median income of less than $28,000 why her salary should be any higher than the current $165,200.
We lived in Missouri for a while in the early 1990s. Emerson represents the "Bootheel" region of the Show-Me State, and yeah, it's a hard scrabble life for many down there.
People in MN-01 are doing better. According to the Census Bureau's Fast Facts for Congress data on MN-01, the median household income for the district is $46, 243; the per capita income is $23,776 (In Emerson's district, it's $17,050). Walz, who made about $55,000 as a school teacher before running for Congress, voted with Emerson.
As for Alcee Hastings' complaints about housing costs: guy, get a roommate.
Comments