Langevin, Cicilline Want Pay Cuts for Congress

Langevin, Cicilline Want Pay Cuts for Congress

With time running out on a deadline for the Congressional Super Committee to make $1.5 trillion in cuts, Congressman James Langevin and David Cicilline are among more than two dozen members of the House of Representatives that are saying cuts should begin with Congressional salaries.

Langevin and Cicilline this week signed on to a letter asking the Super Committee to include lawmakers’ pay as part of their deficit-reduction plan, which is expected to come before Thanksgiving. A failure to reach a deal by the 12 member panel will trigger massive across-the-board cuts that could affect social security, Medicare, education and transportation funding.

The letter was the idea of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, the Representative who nearly died in an assassination attempt earlier this year.

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No Pay Cuts for Congress Since 1933

The letter notes that Congress has not taken a pay cut since 1933 and explains that United States members of Congress are more generously compensated than legislators in almost every other country in the world. It says that legislators in the developed nations receive on average salaries that are 2.3 times higher than the average full-time worker, while member of Congress receive salaries that are3.4 times higher than the average full-time wage. Only members of the National Diet of Japan, earning a salary 3.7 times higher than Japanese workers, outpace Members of Congress, according to the letter.

“As the Super Committee pursues its mandate to reduce the budget deficit by at least $1.5 trillion, we urge you to include your final deal significant savings from reductions to Member of Congress compensation - both as a common sense way to cut government spending and to send a powerful message to the American people that congress should not be exempt from the sacrifices it will take to balance the budget,” the letter states.

It continues: “Several pieces of legislation have been introduced this Congress in both the House and the Senate to cut Member salaries and curb gold-plated Member retirement benefits, including the only bill introduced in the 112th Congress by Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. These proposals show that compensation reductions can result in real deficit savings. For example, a five percent cut to the $174,000 Member salary would save $50 million of a ten year window, while a ten percent pay cut would save $100 million. Adjustments to Member benefit packages, which can be worth 47 percent of salaries, according to reports, could also result in millions of dollars in deficit savings.”

Talks Slow Moving

The talks on the Super Committee have been slow-moving and this week, House Democrats rejected a plan that would have cut about $650 billion from the national debt and would not have included cuts to Medicare and social security. The Republican proposal would have generated about $3 billion in new taxes, but the GOP did not have two-thirds of the majority to seal the deal.

Last month, Cicilline joined 79 of his colleagues in co-sponsoring House Concurrent Resolution 72 expressing their opposition to any legislative language approved by the Joint Select Committee that would reduce benefits for Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security recipients.

These programs were created because they reflect the values of our country,” Cicilline said. “We should be incredibly proud of these programs, and must ensure that our country lives up to its promise: that the benefits earned over a lifetime of hard work will provide for seniors in their retirement.”

 

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