WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand announced that she and 12 other senators have introduced legislation to prevent Congress from getting an automatic pay raise each year. The legislation, which mirrors legislation that was previously introduced by Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI) during the last Congress, would end the annual cost-of-living adjustment provided to members of Congress, which results in an automatic pay raise each year.
“We need to end automatic pay raises for members of Congress,” Senator Gillibrand said. “Hardworking, middle class workers are never guaranteed an annual pay raise, and neither should their leaders in Congress.”
In recent years, Congress passed individual bills to eliminate the pay raise for 2010 and 2011. However, those bills did not permanently remove the automatic pay raise as would be the case under the legislation introduced today.
Senator Gillibrand is an original co-sponsor of the legislation introduced by Senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO) and co-sponsored by John McCain (R-AZ), Jim Webb (D-VA), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Patty Murray (D-WA), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Bob Casey (D-PA), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Daniel Akaka (D-HI), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) and Jon Tester (D-MT).
A copy of the legislation is available here.