Washington, DC – Colorado U.S. Senator Michael Bennet today joined U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO) and 11 other Senators in introducing legislation to prevent Congress from getting an automatic pay raise each year. The legislation, which mirrors legislation that was previously introduced by Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI) during the last Congress, would end the annual cost-of-living adjustment provided to members of Congress, which results in an automatic pay raise each year.
“Members of Congress should not get automatic pay raises while Coloradans and all Americans are struggling to make ends meet,” said Bennet. “If members of Congress think they deserve a pay raise, they should have to justify it to the American people openly and on the record.”
In recent years, Congress passed individual bills to eliminate the pay raise for 2010 and 2011. However, those bills did not permanently remove the automatic pay raise as would be the case under the legislation introduced today.
The bill is also co-sponsored by Senators John McCain (R-AZ), Jim Webb (D-VA), Patty Murray (D-WA), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Bob Casey (D-PA), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Daniel Akaka (D-HI), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) and Jon Tester (D-MT).