Earlier this week, Congress ordered up a pay raise for itself. Yes, you heard that correctly. During tough fiscal times and unbalanced budgets, our elected officials have decided they should be rewarded for their near record-low approval ratings.  Lawmakers are giving themselves bigger paychecks while our nation’s financial ship is far from in shape.

Without any public hearings or even so much as a floor vote, lawmakers grabbed for themselves another $4,400, boosting the base congressional salary to $170,000 per year, a level significantly higher than the median American income. And that’s not counting the perks: free flights, nice gym membership, and meals paid for by campaign committees, to name a few.

Under current law, lawmakers automatically receive a “cost of living adjustment” unless Congress stops its own increase. The Kabuki dance is set up this way so the pay hike itself never gets a direct up-or-down vote.  And this year, both parties delivered majorities so a 244-181 vote stopped a move to block the pay increase.

Opposing the pay raise plays well with voters. So well that during last year’s election, Democrats refused to take an approved pay raise and then bludgeoned Republican lawmakers who had voted for it. But that was an election year. This year, with no election on the horizon, both Democrats and Republicans killed an effort led by Rep. Jim Matheson (D-UT) to get a direct vote to block the pay increase. Now the Senate will take up this issue, but is expected to follow the lead of the House and let the raise go through.

The pay increase matters because it sends a clear message to voters: Members of Congress are more interested in fattening their own wallets than helping Americans who are struggling to balance the family checkbook.  To be clear, we’re not saying that Congress shouldn’t ever get a raise, but there needs to be open and honest discussion about whether or not a pay hike is justified.
 
There is no question our elected leaders need to be adequately compensated. But a pay raise should be based on performance, just like it is for you and me. Congress should answer to whether it reached its objectives in a fiscally responsible manner, for example. American taxpayers are Congress’s boss, and with average approval ratings at 25%, it’s clear that the boss doesn’t think Congress is performing very well. For the new majority not to allow a vote on this matter is foolhardy. Taxpayers need to see that Congress is willing to make sacrifices and lead by example, not just get while the getting is good.