Washington lawmakers are questioning whether or not they should vote to increase their pay. A recent Politico/Morning Consult poll revealed that a vast majority the American people don’t think they deserve it.
The survey found that 57 percent of U.S. voters “strongly oppose” a $4,500 cost-of-living raise for Congress — which would bring salaries to $178,500 — while 15 percent of respondents “somewhat oppose” the idea.
Ten percent of voters in the survey said they “somewhat support” beefing up lawmakers’ pay while just 4 percent said they “strongly support” the idea of a congressional raise.
The poll was conducted from June 7-9 and surveyed 1,991 registered U.S. voters with a margin of error of +/- 2 percent.
Renewed public debate over how much Americans pay their representatives began when House Democrats late last week started moving on a measure to increase Congress’ pay by $4,500 per year. Following public backlash about the idea, the efforts were scrapped for the time being. Congress has forgone their statutory annual 2.6 percent cost-of-living pay bump since 2009.
One of the pay raise’s most vocal Democratic champions claimed that a cost-of-living raise for her and her colleagues helps lawmakers from becoming corrupt. “Voting against cost of living increases for members of Congress may sound nice,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tweetedTuesday, “but doing so only increases pressure on them to keep dark money loopholes open.”
The idea has also found the support of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) who said, “I do not want Congress at the end of the day to only be a place that millionaires serve; this should be a body of the people.”
In contrast, House Freedom Caucus member Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) told Blaze Media earlier this week that Congress shouldn’t get a pay raise until they can actually pass a balanced budget.
Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) dismissed the idea of a pay raise last week, criticizing the Democrats who were pushing for it.
“Instead of writing a budget or reforming our bankrupt entitlement programs, House Democrats are angling for a pay raise,” Sasse said. “These jokers couldn’t hold down a summer job at Dairy Queen pulling this kinda crap.”
Just for reference, the median American household income climbed to a new high of $61,372 in September, meaning that the median American household currently makes more than $100,000 less than a member of Congress, even without a cost-of-living raise.
*story from The Blaze