Wright Defends His Proposal for 30% Pay Raise as ‘Upright’

House Speaker Jim Wright on Sunday defended his plan for a scaled-down 30% pay raise for Congress, federal judges and top executives as “upright and straightforward.”

Wright said the raise and an accompanying ban on speaking fees--that now can go as high as 30% of pay for representatives and 40% for senators--would preserve congressional “dignity, honor and self-respect.”

About 140 of his fellow House Democrats listened in silence as the Speaker closed a three-day issues conference largely financed by corporate lobbyists.

Congressional sources said they doubted that Wright would be able to muster the required two-thirds vote Thursday to get his plan through a sharply divided House.

Panel Urged 50% Raise

A White House commission--along with former President Ronald Reagan and President Bush--recommended a 50% pay increase for Congress, judges and top executive branch officials.

The Senate rejected the raise outright but it will take effect at midnight Tuesday unless the House turns it down before then.

Wright’s plan is to roll back part of the raise in a measure combined with the new ban on honorariums--fees paid to members of Congress for speeches and articles by special-interest groups. Should Wright’s plan pass, it still would require Senate approval to take effect.

During his talk, Wright recalled that, when the idea arose of having an independent commission recommend pay raises, it was regarded as a reform because critics believed that Congress should not vote on its own pay.

Noting that a sharp public outcry has been generated against the raise, Wright said: “So much for reform.”

“Much of the public is up in arms--and understandably so,” Wright said.

“They are not getting a 50% increase, and certain vital programs are threatened with cuts or total extinction under Mr. Reagan’s budget.”

The Speaker noted, however, that consultants for private industry make more than Cabinet secretaries, and members of Congress deal with lobbyists whose salaries are three and four times larger.

“Let’s face it,” Wright said. “There is no comfortable way to solve that problem, and no popular way.

“We are not in Congress for the pay in the first place.”

The Speaker said the vote this week will not guarantee that the public will view Congress favorably--no matter how it turns out.

Failure to adopt Wright’s plan would leave the 50% pay increase in effect. Even so, however, opponents of any increase have said they will vote against the Speaker’s proposal.

Those members of Congress who favor a 50% increase also were expected to vote against the plan.

As Wright described it, however, it would preserve the net pay of House members and grant an increase of 30% to judges and top executive branch officials.

“At the same time,” he said, “it will reaffirm that Congress serves only one master--the American people. It is upright and straightforward, and I hope we do it.”

Wright, who has been criticized for coming up with the 30% plan at the last minute, was given only polite applause at the start and finish of his address.

Some members blame him for the outpouring of criticism generated by the pay raise proposal. Others, however, say he and Congress have been placed in a no-win position.

Each of the Democrats who attended the conference at this mountain resort paid $500 for himself and members of his family. About two-thirds of the $250,000 cost for the trip, including a special train from Washington, was picked up by the National Legislative Educational Foundation, a group composed of lobbyists for corporations and labor unions.