Congressman Seeks to Cut Lawmakers’ Pay

Rep. Kevin Yoder (R-KS) has introduced legislation that would cut pay of members of Congress by five percent and also eliminate future cost of living adjustments.

Rep. Kevin Yoder (R-KS) has introduced legislation that would cut pay of members of Congress by five percent and also eliminate future cost of living adjustments.

The legislation is known as the Congressional Salary Reduction Act (HR 4399) and proposes an amendment to the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946 to make the pay cuts. It has been referred to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and the Administration Committee.

Members of Congress currently earn $174,000 annually. A five percent reduction against this current annual salary would be $8,700 per year.

Congressional pay has been frozen in both FY 2010 and 2011. Under the system in place, Congressional pay automatically increases each year by default unless members vote to block the increase which they have now done for 2 years in a row.

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