How much members of congress get paid

In both instances, the executive order listed new pay rates and indicated an effective date following the expiration of the statutory freeze. Pay adjustments in both years were further frozen pursuant to subsequent laws P. The freeze was subsequently reflected in Executive Order , which was signed April 5, The bill states: "If by April 15, , a House of Congress has not agreed to a concurrent resolution on the budget for fiscal year pursuant to section of the Congressional Budget Act of , during the period described in paragraph 2 the payroll administrator of that House of Congress shall deposit in an escrow account all payments otherwise required to be made during such period for the compensation of Members of Congress who serve in that House of Congress The 0.

Congress, H. The base pay projection is based upon a number of events. It reflects, however, changes from September to September , rather than December to December Additionally, the Consolidated Security, Disaster Assistance, and Continuing Appropriations Act, , enacted on September 30, , provided an overall average base and locality pay adjustment of 3. Schwemle out-of-print; available to congressional clients upon request. See, for example, H. A discharge petition was filed for H. S; and, "Text of Amendments," S.

The annual Member pay adjustment was determined by a formula using the Employment Cost Index private industry wages and salaries, not seasonally adjusted , based on the percentage change reflected in the quarter ending December 31 for the two preceding years, minus 0.

The annual GS pay adjustment was determined by a formula using the Employment Cost Index private industry wages and salaries, not seasonally adjusted , based on the percentage change reflected in the quarter ending September 30 for the two preceding years, minus 0. Schwemle out of print; available to congressional clients upon request. Consolidated Appropriations Act, P. The annual Member pay adjustment was determined by a formula using the Employment Cost Index private industry wages and salaries, not seasonally adjusted , based on the percentage change reflected in the quarter ending December 31 of the two preceding years, minus 0.

The annual GS pay adjustment was determined by a formula using the Employment Cost Index private industry wages and salaries, not seasonally adjusted , based on the percentage change reflected in the quarter ending September 30 of the two preceding years, minus 0. The annual pay adjustment was determined by a formula using the Employment Cost Index private industry wages and salaries, not seasonally adjusted , based on the percentage change reflected in the quarter ending December 31 of the two preceding years, minus 0.

The 3. Congress did not specify an allocation between base and locality pay in the act, since the President makes that determination. Congressional Record , daily edition, vol. The annual pay adjustment was determined by using the Employment Cost Index private industry wages and salaries, not seasonally adjusted , based on the percentage change reflected in the quarter ending December 31 of the two preceding years, minus 0. The scheduled January adjustment was originally 3. However, Members were limited by law to the increase in the base pay of GS employees, which was 2.

Paul Wellstone, remarks in the Senate, Congressional Record , daily edition, vol. The scheduled January adjustment of 3. The annual pay adjustment was determined by a formula based on the Employment Cost Index the private industry, wages and salaries component , based on the percentage change reflected in the quarter ending December 31 for the two years prior, minus.

The scheduled January adjustment was determined by taking the percentage increase in the Index between the quarters October-December and October-December , which was 3. However, by law, Members may not receive an annual adjustment which is a greater percentage increase than the percentage increase of the base pay of GS employees P. Base pay is the pay rate before locality pay is added.

Since General Schedule employees were limited to a 3. The pay adjustment was determined by a formula using the Employment Cost Index private industry wages and salaries, not seasonally adjusted , based on the percentage change reflected in the quarter ending December 31 of the two preceding years, minus. The scheduled adjustment of 2. However, Members were scheduled to receive a lesser adjustment of 2. The base pay increase for the GS was limited to 2.

Before passage, the Senate substituted the language of S. The amendment had been certified officially on May 18, , by the U. Archivist and published in the Federal Register on May 19, The pay amendment was among five amendments proposed to the U. Constitution and submitted to the States along with the Bill of Rights on September 25, These proposed amendments did not contain ratification deadlines. The five amendments had failed to be approved by the necessary three-fourths of the States as provided by Article V of the Constitution, until the pay amendment was finally ratified in A sequestration order is a cancellation of part of a federal agency's budget, thereby reducing funds available for expenditure by an agency.

Topic Areas About Donate. Summary Article I, Section 6, of the U. Introduction The automatic annual adjustment for Members of Congress is determined by a formula using a component of the Employment Cost Index ECI , which measures rate of change in private sector pay. Source of Member Pay Appropriations and Relationship to Appropriations Bills Member salaries are funded in a permanent appropriations account and not in the annual appropriations bills. Previous Actions: Votes by Year Below is a chronology of Member pay actions since the implementation of the Ethics Reform Act of , which established the current pay adjustment system.

Linking Salaries to the Debt Limit H. Section of the motion to recommit also contained language freezing Member pay. This bill passed the House on February 1, By ordering the previous question, the House voted to prevent an amendment to the rule from being offered, and to bring the rule to an immediate vote.

Although H. By agreeing to order the previous question, some Members considered the vote to be against consideration of an amendment prohibiting a pay raise. Had the House not agreed to a motion to order the previous question, they argued, a Member could have offered an amendment to the rule related to the pay adjustment.

During floor debate, at least one Member spoke against ordering the previous question and indicated that, if the motion was defeated, he intended to offer an amendment to the rule to prohibit the pay increase. During floor debate, Representative Jim Matheson made known his intention to offer an amendment to the rule to prohibit the increase, and spoke against the previous question so that his amendment could receive a waiver to be considered.

Section stated that the adjustment in Member pay scheduled for shall not take effect. Actions to Deny Adjustments or Benefits for Certain Members In , both the House and Senate took action on bills that would target the adjustments or benefits of Members under certain circumstances.

This language was not included in the House amendment or in the final version of the bill, which became P. The bill would have denied pension benefits to Members of Congress if an individual is convicted of committing certain offenses while a Member of Congress. The bill was referred to the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and no further action was taken.

Actions Related to the Scheduled Annual Adjustment for In , during consideration of the January adjustment, the House held one vote potentially relating to the pending January increase, and the Senate voted to deny the adjustment.

The amendment S. The bill was not enacted into law. By agreeing to order the previous question, some Members considered the vote to be against consideration of an amendment to permit a pay raise prohibition to be offered.

It did not apply to top-level executive and judicial branch officials. The Senate provision was dropped in conference. Actions Related to the Scheduled Annual Adjustment for One vote potentially relating to the Member pay adjustment scheduled for January was held in Actions Related to the Scheduled Annual Adjustment for Members originally were scheduled to receive a 3.

By agreeing to order the previous question, Members voted not to consider an amendment to permit a pay raise prohibition amendment to be offered. Had the House not agreed to a motion to order the previous question, a Member could have offered an amendment to the rule related to the pay adjustment. The vote to order the previous question and not allow any amendment to the rule was seen by some as a vote to accept a pay adjustment. Actions Related to the Scheduled Annual Adjustment for In , the House held one vote potentially related to the scheduled pay adjustment, and the Senate twice considered the germaneness of Member pay adjustment amendments.

The vote to order the previous question and not allow any amendment to the rule was seen by some as a vote to accept a pay increase. The Senate sustained the point of order because the amendment was not germane under Senate Rule The action was taken during consideration of H. The amendment was offered during floor consideration of H. The Treasury bill had not been initially considered and amended on the Senate floor. The conference report was rejected, according to at least one Member, in part because Senators had not had a chance to introduce an amendment to the FY Treasury bill to prohibit the scheduled January pay raise.

Some Members also stated that they felt that they were denied the opportunity to debate the merits of a raise and conduct a vote. Had the House not agreed to order the previous question, Members could have offered an amendment to the rule related to the pay adjustment. Proposed Reduction in Member Pay Adjustment On October 28, , the House rejected a motion to recommit the conference report on an appropriations bill, H.

Conference report pay language reduced the scheduled 3. The clause prohibits language in an appropriation bill that changes existing law. The effect of the rule was to ensure that the pay prohibition would not be procedurally challenged on the floor during debate on H.

This did not preclude an amendment from being offered on the floor to challenge the prohibition. As a result, the report was recommitted to conference. The pay prohibition language was not discussed during consideration of the rule. The Senate failed to reach agreement on adoption of the report. Conference report language was incorporated in H.

Because the House permits only one motion to instruct conferees, and because ordering the previous question precludes amendment to the pending question, this vote in effect foreclosed the possibility of instructing conferees to omit the pay adjustment from the conference report. Conferees dropped the Senate pay amendment and both houses agreed to the conference report on September 24, By unanimous consent, the Senate placed H. Actions on Annual Adjustment Scheduled for P.

The amendment did not apply to other top-level federal officials scheduled to receive the same 2. The House disagreed to other Senate amendments and agreed to a conference. The pay provision had been included in the bill reported by the House Appropriations Committee H. Pay Freeze Proposal During consideration of the budget resolution, a seven-year pay freeze was proposed but not adopted.

The Senate version of the resolution S. The conference agreement H. Pay of Members of Congress During a Federal Government Shutdown Legislation to prevent Member pay during a federal shutdown was considered but not enacted. The provision was also included in the Senate substitute amendment to H. The provision was deleted in the conference report from January 31, H.

Members were paid during the November , , and December 16, January 5, , shutdowns because their pay is automatically funded in a permanent appropriation. This amendment would prohibit pay for Members of Congress and the President during a lapse in appropriations. The language was included in the Senate amendment to H. Numerous measures were introduced during the th Congress to prevent pay for Members of Congress in the event of a shutdown H. These bills were referred to committee, but no further action was taken.

Actions on Annual Adjustment Scheduled for Votes to prohibit the scheduled January 1, , annual adjustment were taken during consideration of the Senate Committee Funding Resolution S. This non-binding language in effect denied the scheduled 2. Treasury the full amount of any pay that would not have been received had the amendment been enacted into law and that such Members should provide evidence to the public on an annual basis that they have done so," was withdrawn.

Recognition of Ratification of Twenty-Seventh Amendment to the Constitution The House and Senate both recognized ratification of the Twenty-seventh Amendment to the Constitution, which provides that a pay adjustment for Members of Congress shall not take effect until an intervening election has occurred.

The pay increase became effective the same day. The amendment would have reduced Member salary by an amount corresponding to the percentage reduction of pay of federal employees who were furloughed or otherwise had their pay reduced resulting from a sequestration order. Subsequently, S.

Author Contact Information Ida A. Brudnick, Specialist on the Congress [email address scrubbed] , [phone number scrubbed]. Footnotes 1. Constitution, amend. Raines v. Byrd , U. Congressional Record, April 22, , p. Congressional Rec ord , March 1, , pp. Congressional Rec ord , April 1, , pp. Congressional Record , December 13, , p. Lesser-known among congressional perks is the tradition of granting death gratuity payments to the heirs of members who pass away while serving in office.

The amount is equal to the member's yearly congressional salary and the payments are provided regardless of the financial status of the member, many of whom are millionaires. Additional benefits and perks are detailed here. Congressional Salary Under law, the salary of Members of Congress are set for an automatic annual cost-of-living-adjustment COLA increase unless Congress votes to not accept it. Death Gratuity Payments Lesser-known among congressional perks is the tradition of granting death gratuity payments to the heirs of members who pass away while serving in office.

They may earn no more than 15 percent of the Level II of the Executive Schedule, the table that determines the pay scale of high-level political appointees in the Executive Branch. Aside from limiting how much Members may earn moonlighting, there are also restrictions on how they may do so. For instance, since , both Representatives and Senators have been forbidden from accepting payments for speeches. Or, as another example, Members may not practice law for compensation or almost any professional activity that involves a fiduciary responsibility.

This provision affects many Members, since at the start of the th Congress an estimated 50 Senators and House Members were lawyers. Aside from any formal restrictions on earning outside income, there are practical limits: Today, the schedule of a Member of Congress is so heavy that it would be very difficult to earn much in the way of outside employment.

Members of both the House and Senate must file forms disclosing the sources of their outside income, whether earned or passive like dividends from the stock market, book royalties or the like. Both the House and Senate make Member disclosure forms publicly available, including online.