(Washington, D.C.)  The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW) denounced the Senate for today’s action increasing the salary of members of Congress by 2.2 percent, or $3,400 to a total of $158,103 per year.  The raise, approved by the House in September, will go into effect on January 1, once the President signs the Transportation and Treasury Department Appropriations bill.

“Members of Congress have the only job in the country whose occupants can set their own salary without regard to performance, profit, or economic climate,” CCAGW President Tom Schatz said.  “Clearly, members must think that money grows on trees.  With a $480 billion deficit, the escalating cost of the war in Iraq, and a stagnant economy, Congress should be curbing spending, not lining their pockets at our expense.  In addition, many members of Congress have been shocked to learn about the more than 600 sick and injured reservists living in concrete barracks at Fort Stewart, Georgia, with limited access to medical care.  If they are so concerned, they should send the $1,819,000 that their pay raise will cost down to Fort Stewart to improve medical treatment of our Armed Forces.”

Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) offered an amendment to stop the pay raise, but it was tabled by a vote of 60-34.

In a statement that epitomizes the disdain that the bi-partisan spending party on Capitol Hill has for taxpayers, Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) said the $3,400 was not a raise, but a “cost of living increase.”

“The pay increase of $3,400 is nearly one-third the $10,300 annual salary that a minimum wager worker makes,” Schatz continued.  “Of course, Sen. Stevens is the same elected official who took home $611 per capita in pork-barrel projects in fiscal year 2003 and didn’t consider that to be wasteful spending.  He is also leading the effort to sneak into the appropriations process a $100 million giveaway of spectrum to Northpoint Technology, as well as a $21 billion corporate welfare handout to Boeing to lease 100 Air Force refueling tankers, a deal that will cost $6 billion more than buying the planes outright.  With that inside-the-Beltway perspective on Americans’ hard-earned money, it’s no wonder Sen. Stevens does not recognize a pay raise when everyone else sees one.”

Congress amended the law in 1989 to allow for automatic “cost of living” increases every year, unless there is a specific vote to cancel it.  Fiscal 2004 will make five years in a row that Congress refused to turn down its pay hike.  During that time, members of Congress have given themselves a total of $21,000 in raises.

“This undeserved pay raise is no surprise, as the 108^th Congress has shown a voracious appetite for spending,” Schatz concluded.  “It goes to show how out of touch with reality politicians can be.  They forget that their salaries are paid by taxpayers.  Americans are being forced to tighten their belts—if they even have a job—yet members of Congress will have an extra $3,400 to do with as they please.”

The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste is the lobbying arm of Citizens Against Government Waste, the nation's largest nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government.