Senate Votes to Block Congress Pay Hike

The Senate voted Thursday to block automatic pay increases for members of Congress and other high government officials--but the raises could go into effect anyway if a reluctant House does not follow suit.

The raises, which are to take effect next Wednesday unless both houses vote against them, would increase congressional salaries 15.6%, to $89,500 from $77,400. For federal judges, Cabinet officers and top bureaucrats--about 10,000 officials--the raises would vary from 15.6% to 2.4%. The cost would be $41 million for the year.

But, confronted with their own pledges to hold down spending and reduce the federal budget deficit, senators voted 87 to 7 to stop the raises, which had been recommended by President Reagan. And they emphasized their determination later in the day by tacking an anti-pay-raise amendment to a popular bill being rushed through Congress to provide emergency relief for the homeless.

Timing ‘Not Proper’

“Stated simply, this is not the proper time for Congress to be voting itself or any other high-level officials a pay raise,” said Sen. Strom Thurmond (R-S. C.). He noted that Congress previously voted to hold increases in Social Security and other retirement programs to 1.3%.

“There is no rational justification . . . for them to be asked to take less while we take more,” Thurmond said.

Sen. John Glenn (D-Ohio), speaking on behalf of the pay raises, said that federal officials have suffered huge losses in purchasing power since the late 1960s. Soon, he said, only the wealthy or those who are young and without family commitments are likely to seek careers in government service.

“Given my druthers, I would not be here floor-managing this particular bill--I assure you that,” Glenn said. “I fully recognize that supporting any pay raise is not politically popular--I guess that’s the understatement of the decade.”

Received 3% Raise

The raise would be the second for Congress in 1987. Earlier this month, senators and members of the House received a 3% automatic cost-of-living increase under separate legislation passed previously.

But, even as the Senate voted, there was uncertainty about what the House will do.

“In a very real sense, what we are doing will be meaningless because it will be ignored by the House,” Sen. Gordon J. Humphrey (R-N. H.) said.

House Speaker Jim Wright (D-Tex.) indicated to reporters Wednesday that he felt little sense of urgency in tackling the ticklish issue. House sources who asked not to be identified had said that action one way or the other was unlikely before the Wednesday deadline. But that was before the Senate linked the pay raise issue to homeless relief, something that Wright--as well as others--is eager to rush to the President.

A Controversial Law

The raises were determined under terms of a controversial law that established an independent commission to review executive pay and make recommendations for increases. The commission called for much larger raises, but Reagan trimmed them. The raises then become law automatically unless both houses of the Congress vote against them.

Once they become effective, they cannot be rolled back in the case of federal judges. But Congress has the power at any time to eliminate raises for itself and officials of the executive branch.

Of California’s two senators, Republican Pete Wilson voted to block the pay raises and Democrat Alan Cranston did not vote.