Uneasy Bipartisan Alliance Protects Pay Raise

[babylonsister]

http://public.cq.com/docs/cqt/news110-000002542012.html

Uneasy Bipartisan Alliance Protects Pay Raise
By Jonathan Allen, CQ Staff


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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.

“Everything’s on the record and everything’s going to be used,” said Mark Steven Kirk, R-Ill.

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.

But lawmakers note that they must maintain multiple residences, including one in the expensive Washington, D.C., market.:nopity: :nopity:


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