It’s been 77 years since members of Congress took a pay cut. It happened April 1, 1933, and it was no April Fool’s joke, as the nation was in the Great Depression. Today, a first-term Arizona Democrat, Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick, has garnered a record number of co-sponsors for her proposed Taking Responsibility for Congressional Pay Act. Her bill requires a 5 percent cut, or $8,700, from the $174,000 annual salary now paid to senators and representatives. Kirkpatrick’s measure has attracted 19 co-sponsors, the most ever for a pay cut bill, she says. Kirkpatrick is not waiting on her colleagues to implement the pay cut, either, as she is returning $8,700 in equal monthly installments to the Treasury.

The Arizona Democrat makes the case for her proposal in the most direct manner possible: “The leadership of both parties have ignored the voices of the people for decades. Now we are facing some of the most difficult economic times in generations, and I am sending a message to Washington politicians that the people have had enough. When Congress was working to end the Great Depression, they cut their salaries — why haven’t we taken that same basic step? The time for politics as usual is over, and the time for action is now. Washington needs to finally step up.”