Arizona Dem: Congress, We Need a Paycut

Many lawmakers are calling on Congress to once again forego its annual raise, but Arizona Democrat Ann Kirkpatrick is taking things a step further, proposing an $8,700 pay cut. That would amount to 5% of a House member’s base salary of $174,000, and $4.7 million in total savings. “Families across the country are getting by on lower wages … and these folks pay our salaries,” Kirkpatrick reasons.

“The federal government’s budget is in worse shape, so why shouldn’t senators and representatives have to feel the same pinch?” It would be the first time since the Great Depression that Congress voted to reduce its own pay. Current laws grant Congress an automatic cost-of-living raise each year, but it has voted to forego that bump for the past two years, and there’s growing support for doing so again this year, the Hill reports. (More Congress stories.)