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Originally Posted by Sailor Steve
And congress shouldn't be allowed to vote themselves pay raises at all. That should have to be sold to the public.
But neither of those is ever going to happen.
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Well technically Congress can't vote themselves a pay raise.
27th Amendment of the Constitution (1992)
No law, varying the compensation for the services of the Senators and Representatives, shall take effect, until an election of Representatives shall have intervened.
So legally congress is voting the next congress a pay raise.
The kicker is that the citizens reelect congress members at a rate of >90%
As so many issues, the problem is not with Congress but with the voters.
Don't want congress to vote themselves a pay raise, don't reelect them.
The system gives a lot of power to the citizens....if only the citizens would use it...and use it wisely.
But as you say, "But neither of those is ever going to happen."
One solution that appeals to me is to make all Congress members state employees. Since they are representatives of the state, let the individual state pay their salary.
The Senator from Ohio wants a pay raise, then the Senator from Ohio needs to go back to the Ohio state legislation and ask for a pay raise. This would give the states more power over their congressional representative (money talks BS walks)