Congressional Pay Raise Remains Stalled Despite Rising Costs And Overdue Adjustments

As members of Congress run for reelection this fall, one thing constituents are not likely to hear them saying out on the campaign trail is that they need a raise.

The truth is, there are plenty of members who, in private, will say a congressional pay raise is not only justified but also long overdue.

Considering the median household income in the United States is under $75,000, it would be hard to argue that members of Congress are underpaid, but they can easily argue that their pay has not kept up with increases in the cost of living.

"Nobody in Congress has had a pay increase since 2009," said Oklahoma Congressman Tom Cole (R-Okla. 4) in a recent interview.

That's 15 years since Cole or any other member has had a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) or any other sort of pay hike. Cole was talking about it because it nearly derailed the passage of the House appropriations bill that includes funding for Congress.

"We lost 10 Republicans," Rep. Cole explained, "and some of them, honestly, were just objecting because we didn’t have a COLA increase for the Congress's pay."

Thus, it appears, for a 16th straight year, Representatives and Senators will receive a salary of $174,000. Ethics rules limit the amount of outside income they can earn to about $31,000 annually and prohibit all honoraria.

Separately, they get allowances to cover the cost of hiring staff and operating their DC and state offices. House members, on average, receive close to $2 million, while Senators' office allowances are in the range of $4-6 million. They can be reimbursed for some living expenses. 

Under a 1989 law, members are supposed to get annual cost of living adjustments, but in the wake of the 2008 recession they temporarily put them on hold, and as unpopular as Congress has been, with approval ratings less than 20 percent, they haven't felt comfortable bringing them back. 

"The reality is that’s a politically sensitive topic," Cole said, "and the decision was made, let’s not deal with that." 

Congress may still be too uncomfortable giving themselves a raise, but in 2022 they agreed it was not in anyone’s best interest to artificially hold down staff salaries. And so now it's estimated there are close to 800 congressional aides who make more than $174,000 and as much as $220,000.