Northshore Conifer posted on April 24, 2010 15:44
(Washington, D.C.) – U.S. Sen. David Vitter today applauded the Senate’s passage of a bill he co-authored to freeze automatic Congressional pay raises for one year.
“At a time when so many employees across the country are losing their jobs or having to accept pay freezes, it makes no sense for Congress to continue quietly receiving annual raises. If members of Congress want a raise, they should have to explain to the American people why they deserve it, rather that automatically receiving it year in and year out. I now urge the House to move quickly to pass this bill and send it to the president for his signature.
“This bill would be a good first step, but Congress needs to go further and permanently end these automatic raises. I have introduced a bill to do just that, and I will keep fighting to pass it. It’s time for Congress to end business as usual and move toward greater fiscal discipline,” said Vitter.
The pay freeze bill adopted today received significant bipartisan support and is the latest step in an ongoing effort by Vitter to eliminate automatic Congressional pay increases. In 2009, the Senate adopted a bill co-sponsored by Vitter to eliminate the annual raises for Congress, but the bill failed to receive a vote in the House. 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 with Democrat U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold last year is here.