U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Jan. 25, 2013) — Continuing her years-long fight to cut federal spending and boost accountability, U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill this week reintroduced bipartisan legislation that would end automatic pay raises for members of Congress.

“If Congress wants to give themselves a pay raise, they ought to vote on it in the light of day, and not hide behind automatic raises,” said McCaskill, a former prosecutor and Missouri State Auditor. “Members of Congress have got a lot of work to do — to strengthen accountability in government, boost job opportunities, and cut wasteful spending — before they’ll have earned a pay raise.”

Under current law, members of Congress automatically receive yearly cost-of-living pay increases unless members vote to stop the increase.

McCaskill has helped stop individual yearly pay raises since arriving in the Senate (click this link for additional details). Due in part to her efforts, Congressional members have not received a pay raise since 2009. McCaskill is seeking to change the law so that Congress would have to proactively vote to raise its own pay. McCaskill’s legislation would eliminate the provision in law that provides for an annual automatic pay raise for members of Congress and therefore require Congress to pass legislation that will raise their pay.

Click this link for additional details on McCaskill’s accountability efforts.

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