Newly minted Rep. Zach Nunn (R-IA), who beat former Rep. Cindy Axne in one of the top congressional races last year, introduced legislation to end the automatic pay raises for Congress.
Nunn introduced legislation to fully repeal the provision of law that provides automatic pay adjustments for Members of Congress every year, which is supposed to take effect automatically every year. The congressman’s bill differs from previous legislation to suspend automatic pay raises.
The Hawkeye State congressman explained that unless his legislation passes Congress to repeal the provision fully, the 2023 pay increase for members would be a 4.5 percent raise, equal to $7,830 in extra salary per year. While members are currently paid $174,000, Nunn wants to prevent there from being any future increases.
The Congressional Research Service (CRS) acknowledged that compensation for members of Congress is $174,000, except for the Speaker of the House, who makes $223,500, and the Senate President pro tempore, in addition to the majority and minority leaders in the House and Senate, who make $193,400.
The pay levels have remained the same since 2009, as numerous pieces of legislation denied the scheduled annual adjustments over the years, with the last ones — House-reported (H.R. 8237) and Senate-introduced (S. 4720) — freezing the annual adjustments until 2023.
Nunn explained that lawmakers “did not get into public service to get rich” and that those elected to serve should help others before themselves, which he argues included not having automatic pay increases.
“This is a commonsense bill that builds on legislation I introduced a few weeks ago to ban stock trading by Members of Congress,” he explained. “It’s time to pass these bills and prove to the American people that their elected representatives understand public service is for the American people, not for personal profit.”
CRS noted that the pay for members of Congress has “historically been the subject of considerable debate and discussion, as well as occasional confusion.” It is also acknowledged that members are only paid during their time in elected office and do not receive salaries after leaving.
Jacob Bliss is a reporter for Breitbart News. Write to him at jbliss@breitbart.com or follow him on Twitter @JacobMBliss.
