Congress should consider giving lawmakers a pay raise, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said Tuesday.
House Democrats this week pulled a bill that would have boosted lawmaker and staff salaries after backlash from vulnerable Republicans and Democratic members.
“When you talk this subject about COLA, a cost-of-living increase, it does invoke an emotion, kind of an impulsive emotion,” McCarthy said, referring to potential pay raises Congress has refused since 2009. “I think it’s one that we should pause and look at. It’s been more than 10 years in the process. The current study says that pay has decreased by 15%. I do not want Congress at the end of the day to only be a place that millionaires serve. This should be a body of the people.”
The leader also slammed Democratic leadership over its decision to bring to the floor a bill authorizing congressional committees to pursue subpoena enforcement in federal district court. Lawmakers on Tuesday are set to vote on the measure. The debate comes after the Trump administration defied a slew of subpoenas issued by panels conducting executive branch oversight.
“It’s not enforcing subpoena power. What they are doing now is taking power away from Congress and putting it into a group of five people, with three Democrats and two Republicans. It’s called BLAC, the Bipartisan Legislative Advisory Committee. And what happens is … that any future subpoena, they can go directly to court without Congress even voting on it,” he said. “So what the Democrat majority is doing is they’re trying to get to impeachment without having their members actually voting on it.”
McCarthy paused and smiled before answering a question about his reaction to Rep. Justin Amash, R-Mich., this week leaving the House Freedom Caucus over his belief President Trump should be impeached. Amash is, so far, the only Republican lawmaker calling for the president to be impeached.
“Justin Amash can determine his own future, but I think, on a philosophical basis, he’s probably in a different place than the majority of us,” he said.
McCarthy declined to elaborate on whether the renegade GOP member, a self-described libertarian who is openly mulling a presidential bid, still has a place within the conference.
