House Democrats canceled a vote this week on a bill that would have provided a pay raise to lawmakers and Capitol Hill staff.
But House leaders say they’ll take it up later after negotiating with the GOP.
“We are going to have a vote on it at some point in time,” Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said Monday.
Democrats backed down on a vote this week that would have allowed an automatic 2.6% pay increase to be implemented. The Republican campaign arm planned to target vulnerable Democrats over the raise, even though some GOP leaders support it.
The raise is known as a cost of living adjustment, or COLA.
It has been blocked each year for the past decade but Democrats and some Republicans believe it should be implemented this year. The raise would also apply to Capitol Hill staffers.
“I think COLA adjustment is appropriate,” Hoyer said, declining to call it a pay raise. “Members have now received a 10-year freeze, which means for 10 years they have lost purchasing power.”
The automatic raise is included in the legislative branch appropriations bill. Democratic leaders took it off the schedule for this week, but it eventually needs a vote. Legislative branch funding must be approved by Sept. 30.
Hoyer and other Democratic leaders said the raise will have to be bipartisan, but it’s not clear whether the GOP will go along.
Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said Tuesday he wants to study the issue before lifting the freeze on pay raises.
“I think he’ll have more to say,” Hoyer said, suggesting McCarthy would ultimately agree to the raises this year. “I expect, as it has been every time we’ve done this, it’s been done in a bipartisan way, and I expect it will be this time.”
While many House Democrats back raises and point to the need to raise staff salaries, those from swing districts do not support pay increases for lawmakers.
A House member earns $174,000 annually and the COLA adjustment would add another $4,500.
Freshman Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Mich., said the House should be working on an infrastructure bill and lowering the cost of prescription drugs, “putting money back into the pockets of everyday Americans, not members of Congress.”
