Pay for members of Congress has been frozen since 2009 as lawmakers opted out of automatic cost-of-living adjustments. Social media reports claiming that a stopgap spending measure in December 2024 included a 40 percent pay increase for elected representatives are incorrect. One proposal that failed included a 3.8 percent adjustment, but the final bill left salaries unchanged.
“There are two provisions hidden in the CR (continuing resolution) that Congress is trying to avoid (including a) pay increase for members of Congress from $174,000 to $243,000 per year,” according to a December 18, 2024 X-post with tens of thousands of people. of commitments.
The claim was amplified by Elon Musk, owner of as well as the quasi-official Department of Government Efficiency.
Similar claims are circulating on Facebook, Threads and Instagram.
Screenshot from Threads, taken on December 24, 2024
Screenshot of X taken on December 24, 2024
The messages bounced across platforms as lawmakers scrambled to keep the government operational ahead of the December 21 deadline.
One version of the measure, which was defeated on December 19, included a more modest 3.8 percent wage increase – which would have been the first since 2009. Some members objected to the increase.
According to the Congressional Research Service, that $6,600 annual increase would have been the maximum amount allowed under the law (filed here).
“The maximum potential adjustment in January 2025 is 3.8%, which would result in a salary of $180,600,” the report said.
The final bill passed on December 20 removed the pay increase, among other provisions, leaving lawmakers’ salaries unchanged (archived here and here).
The false messages used an amount of $243.00, a salary that would have accrued if lawmakers had accepted all cost-of-living adjustments since 1992, the first year in which automatic raises were mandated under the Ethics Reform Act of 1989, the report said.
Lawmakers have repeatedly passed measures to deny compensation increases and other laws now take precedence, including a law passed in March 2024 that bans cost-of-living adjustments for lawmakers, a provision that was reaffirmed in a continuing funding bill in September 2024 .
The two measures effectively reversed the automatic increase by providing that “No adjustments will be made under section 601(a) of the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946 (2 USC 4501) (relating to cost-of-living adjustments for members of Congress)” during the covered periods.
AFP has fact-checked other claims about US politics here.
