Show The Congressional apay pay raIses By Hy Senator Jake Garn The pay raise for Cor Members of oC Congress went Into effect March 1 The vast majority of oC the mall mail and phone calls being received at al my Utah and Washington offices this last week have dealt with the pay raise so I will take lake this opportunity opportunity opportunity op op- op- op to again make my views on the subject known The way the pay increase issue was handled is a disgrace It Is at best cowardly for Congress to allow their pay raise to go Into effect automatically without a direct vote on the record There were three separate amendments in the Senate all sponsored by Senator Jim Allen Ala D-Ala which would have rejected the proposed increase I sponsored co-sponsored all three Unfortunately Unfortunately Unfortunately Un Un- fortunately one was tabled and the others were not considered before beCore the Senate recessed February 11 11 The House of Representatives also subsequently subsequently subsequently sub sub- refused to take any action to disapprove the in In- crease The present method of pf determining Federal compensation com com- compensation has many problems Raises proposed by the President are automatic unless specifically rejected by Congress Also raises for Members of Congress are tied to increases for Federal judges and executives making salary adjustments for Cor top officials however justified subject to the political manipulations surrounding a Congressional pay raise I favored the pay hike for Federal judges and top level Executives because there is a huge discrepancy level between the Federal government and the private sector it is becoming increasingly difficult to attract and retain well qualified people because of depressed Executive salary levels However this problem will not be remedied as long as Congressional salaries are tied lied to those of oC other Federal employees em em- To help remedy these dilemmas I have introduced a abill abill abill bill S S. S which would require Congress to raises for Federal officials separately from their own It would also require Congressmen to approve approve approve ap ap- ap- ap prove or reject any Congressional pay raise by direct roll call vote In addition the bill provides that each member of oC Congress may defer any raise until after having stood for re There are presently no means available for a Congressman to not accept a pay raise I am certain that this bill would eliminate most of the problems existing in our method of compensation |