Ic-salaries About Member of Congress Salaries

Congress is required by Article I, Section 6, of the Constitution to determine its own pay.

Pay adjustments can be enacted through stand-alone legislation or through a commission process, but most commonly member salary increases are implemented through an automatic annual adjustment process in which members receive an automatic “cost of living” allowance increase.

The salary increase takes effect on January 1 of each year unless Congress votes to decline it, though individual members can opt to decline an automatic annual pay increase. By law, members may not receive an increase greater than the increase in the base pay of General Schedule (GS) employees.

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History of Annual Salaries - Members of Congress and Leadership

Year Members of Congress Speaker of the House

Majority and Minority Leaders

and President Pro Tempore
2009 $174,000 $223,500 $193,400
2008 $169,300 $217,400 $188,100
2007 $165,200 $212,100 $183,500
2006 $165,200 $212,100 $183,500
2005 $162,100 $208,100 $180,100
2004 $158,100 $203,000 $175,700
2003 $154,700 $198,600 $171,900
2002 $150,000 $192,600 $166,700
2001 $145,100 $186,300 $161,200
2000 $141,300 $181,400 $156,900
1985 $75,100 n/a n/a
1975 $44,600 n/a n/a
1955 $12,500 n/a n/a
1925 $7,500 n/a n/a
1900 $5,000 n/a n/a
1873 $7,500 n/a n/a
1855 $3,000 n/a n/a
1825 $8 per day n/a n/a
1800 $6 per day n/a n/a
1789 $6 per day n/a n/a

 

 

Comments

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by lowest approval rating + automatic raise = on 04/29/2009 04:25 AM EDT
Screw the people. They laugh at us as they continue to do as they want, take want they want, and march us deeper and deeper into our economic death. Get rid of the crooks, let's take our country back.
by anonymous on 04/02/2009 01:35 PM EDT
do not give to them, they make more then enough,for the last 10+... years is been about GREED, INSTEAD FEED THE POOR of america ,a rich nation as us we have people that are starving..is this america o third country?
by Jimbo on 03/27/2009 10:42 AM EDT
I have a weekly call to my Senators, and congressman asking them if they have taken the cost of living increase - Of course, no one knows at their office: I call Senator Schumer, Senator Gillibrand and Congressman Ackerman of New York and Long Island every week about this - I have written letters to their offices and after several months of polite pestering, I have heard nothing about their reasons for taking the pay raise (from this blog it appears Gillibrand is NOT taking the cost of living pay raise). I feel if we could all give them a call every week, bugging them about their "earmarks" "pay raises" "increased budget" and show results on this site, maybe we can get them to understand, that the financial problems start at their desk.
by LegiStorm on 03/26/2009 04:11 PM EDT
We appreciate your comment, Sally, and will add a note to the default member salary stating that some members decline the annual cost of living adjustment.
by Sally Jo Sorensen on 03/26/2009 12:03 PM EDT
A number of representatives have chosen not to accept the automatic raises and indeed, continue to return an earlier raise along with the new ones (an example of this practice is Tim Walz in Minnesota's First district). Would it be possible for Legistorm to improve the accuracy of the data for each individual member, rather than just listing the default salary? Doing so would allow citizens to know exactly what their representatives are making.
by Charles Della Peruta on 03/26/2009 11:50 AM EDT
Congress an their staff should be paid by the state they represent, the amount the state they represent decides, not by the federal government. this along with term limits would give taxpayers much more control and solve many problems.
by anonymous on 03/24/2009 12:31 PM EDT
CALL YOUR CONGRESSPEOPLE AND ASK THEM ABOUT THIS!!
by Gayle Sexton on 03/23/2009 10:39 AM EDT
Shouldn't these people lead by example? Why do "we the people" allow "our governmental leaders" to get paid these enormous salaries while they pass laws that will reduce ours? Isn't it odd how they can raise enough money to spend millions on their campaigns but have to borrow money to run the government? Maybe some of their fund raisers could pay back this tremendous debt they are going to blame someone else for and pass on to the next generation.
by fogybottom on 03/07/2009 08:07 PM EST
Has cost of living increased over 80% since Jan 1, 2000?
by Rob Rivera on 02/28/2009 11:54 PM EST
Republican, Democrat, Independent, or other should not matter as much as care for our country. If there was as much dedication to this country as there is to the parties, we would have a truly great country. Like religion, God is no where to be found in a church, so is concern for America.
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