House votes itself a raise
As it turns out, there are some things on which Democrats and Republicans can play patty cake after all:
WASHINGTON -- The House on Tuesday agreed to a $3,100 pay raise for Congress next year -- to $165,200 -- after defeating an effort to roll it back.In a 263-152 vote, the House blocked a bid by Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, to force an up-or-down vote on the pay raise. Instead, lawmakers will automatically receive the raise ...
[...]
In a House riven by partisanship, raising members' pay is one of the few things Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., agree on.
The annual debate on the members' [pay raise] resembles kabuki theater: 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.
"Each side put up their required quota" of votes, said Rep. Deborah Pryce of Ohio, the fourth-ranking Republican in the House.
Well, isn't that sweet? And it's honest. For Washington doublespeak, we turn to The Man:
"It's not a pay raise," said House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas. "It's an adjustment so that they're not losing their purchasing power."
See whether your baron was part of the quota.