Honestly I think they are only doing this because they know if they actually gave themselves a raise, all hell would break out. If this had been any other time you damn sure better believe they would fatten up their pockets. Nice gesture anyway:
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer said Tuesday that House members won’t get a pay increase in fiscal 2010 — although their fellow lawmakers will have something to say about that.
“The Speaker and I have discussed it and we’ve both agreed that it would not be appropriate for us to take cost-of-living adjustments in the coming year,” Hoyer, D-Md., said after the Democratic Caucus meeting. He cited the “extraordinary pain” that economic problems are inflicting on the nation.
Under the terms of a 1989 law, members of Congress automatically get an annual cost-of-living pay increase unless they act to stop it. The annual increases are based on a formula calculated by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which takes into consideration changes in private industry wages and salaries. Hoyer had earlier suggested that the formula may not provide a pay raise this year anyway, but it is not yet known if that would be the case.
Hoyer conceded that he and Pelosi, D‑Calif., acted in......
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