No, Tom, It's a Pay Raise

Since 1989, members of the House of Representatives have had a nifty little bill working for them. Basically, unless they vote to forego it, they automatically receive a cost of living adjustment - a pay raise. This works out well for them since the voters usually don't look kindly on elected officials who vote themselves a pay raise.

On Tuesday, Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, introduced a motion to force a straight up-or-down vote on next year's raise. Matheson was the only one of the 434 House members to speak out against the 1.9% raise...

Now is not the time for members of Congress to be voting themselves a pay raise. We need to be willing to make sacrifices.

After voting down Matheson's motion 263-152, the House will automatically receive the scheduled raise of $3100 - to $165,200 - next year. They'll automatically receive the raise after voting down a measure to roll it back. Got it?

This might be the only issue that Republicans and Democrats are adamant about. The Associated Press describes the process as "kabuki theater" and explains...

Both Democratic and Republican leaders guarantee sizable majorities of their members to block the effort, and they make sure there is not a clear-cut vote on the measure. None of the party campaign committees uses the pay-raise issue in campaigns.

The quote of the day on this charade comes from Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Texas...

It's not a pay raise. It's an adjustment so that they're not losing their purchasing power.