House Democratic leaders have stuck a pin in bipartisan plans to give lawmakers a raise, Politico reported.
During a private meeting on Monday evening, Democrats decided to nix a section of the funding bill that Congress is set to vote on this week that included a raise for members of Congress and staff. It would’ve been the first time lawmakers had gotten a raise in a decade, according to Politico.
The decision was made after key Democratic members in vulnerable red states complained that the plan — while it enjoyed bipartisan support — would be detrimental to their reelection prospects, especially for freshmen Democrats in swing districts.
Red district Democrats like Reps. Joe Cunningham (D-SC), Ben McAdams (D-UT) and Anthony Brindisi (D-NY) publicly urged Democratic leadership to pull the raise provision in the bill. Some even wrote amendments to cut it out of the spending plan. In all, at least 15 Democrats pushed to cut the raise from the spending bill.
Hoyer confirmed to Politico after the meeting that he believes the section — which would’ve given lawmakers a $4,500 raise — will be cut from the bill. A bipartisan group of lawmakers reportedly supported the measure in order to encourage average and middle class Americans to run for office.
Most members of Congress currently make $174,000 a year. The House speaker makes $223,500 and the majority and minority leaders in each branch, plus the president pro tempore each earn $193,400 a year.
