House lawmakers voted Friday to freeze their own pay in a $3.48 billion measure that raises spending slightly on House and Capitol Hill operations in 2017.
Lawmakers voted 233-175 in favor of the bill, which is the first fiscal 2017 spending measure passed under the new Republican process that blocks the normal open amendment process. Republicans voted this week to require pre-approval for all spending bill amendments after Democrats began tacking on pro-LGBT provisions, including one that scuttled another spending proposal.
Just 14 Republicans opposed the bill, and 11 Democrats supported it.
The House Legislative Branch Appropriations bill blocks pay raises for members of Congress, maintaining a freezes that has been in place since 2010. Lawmakers earn $174,000 annually, while the majority and minority leaders earn $193,400. The House speaker makes $223,500.
The freeze has been in place since the GOP took the majority in 2010 on a pledge to reduce federal spending. Funding for the House of Representatives operations has shrunk by 14 percent since the GOP took over.
But beginning in October, spending will go up.
The fiscal 2017 House Legislative Branch spending measure raises overall spending by $73 million, about 2 percent. Most of the increase is directed to the Architect of the Capitol, which is responsible for the maintenance of the building, and the United States Capitol Police.
Republicans said the increase was needed to pay for “essential health and safety improvements to aging or damaged facilities to protect members, staff, and visitors.”
Lawmakers shaved off some spending through the amendment process.
Lawmakers voted unanimously to end automatic distribution of printed copies of the Federal Register, the president’s budget request, and the telephone directory, which are available online.
But they defeated an amendment sponsored by Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., to cut overall spending on House operations by 1 percent, excluding the police and architect.
Along the way to passage, the GOP-led House rejected an amendment by Democrats by a vote of 190-237 to allow the Library of Congress to eliminate the use of “illegal alien” in the subject headings system. Republicans included language in the underlying bill to restore the use of the term after the Library moved in March to replace it with “noncitizen” and “unauthorized immigration.”
Democrats called the term “hurtful and inaccurate.” Republican proponents said the term is incorporated in the U.S. code.
