Wright Caves In, Agrees to Let House Vote on Pay Hike : 51% Raise Appears Doomed

House Speaker Jim Wright, bowing to a storm of political protest across the country and a rebellion on the floor, agreed today to allow the House to vote on accepting a 51% pay increase.

The raise for members of Congress and senior members of the executive branch is certain to be defeated in the face of national opinion surveys showing that more than 80% of those polled think the increase from $89,500 to $135,000 is excessive in a time of budget deficits and cutbacks in popular programs.

The Senate voted 95 to 5 last week to reject the raise on a resolution that preserves it for judges. It is this resolution that will be before the House for a vote Tuesday. A negative vote by the House, hours before the increase is to automatically go into effect at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday, would kill the proposed pay increase for members of Congress and members of the executive branch, but would preserve it for judges.

Taking the Heat

Wright originally decided to take the political heat and not schedule a vote on the politically sensitive issue, but truckloads of mail have been arriving at the Capitol for weeks that is critical of members of the House for refusing to go on record on the pay raise.

Wright’s hand was forced today when House Republicans fought a routine motion to adjourn the House in an effort to force a vote on their separate resolution opposing the pay raise. The effort to adjourn failed, 238 to 88, and Wright took the unusual step of speaking to his colleagues from the floor to say he would schedule a vote on the raise.

“I take this time to acknowledge the will of the House, which is always supreme in the House of Representatives,” Wright said. “It is apparent to me and I think all of us, a majority of the members, desire to vote up or down on the question of whether or not to approve the (pay increase) recommendation.

“We will vote tomorrow, up or down. Members will have that opportunity.”

Wright, standing alone in the political heat of the kitchen, started looking for company last week on his decision not to schedule a vote on the pay raise. He ordered a poll of the 435-member House on the issue and found that 57% of those responding opposed voting on the raise before it went into effect.

The Texas Democrat then planned to let the House vote--a day after the pay increase kicked in--on reducing it to 30%, along with financial reforms that would bar members from accepting speaking fees from special interest groups.

But the surge of public outrage did not diminish, with critics saying that a 30% increase was nothing to be proud of, and promised retribution at the polls. The issue also soured a Democratic conference at a West Virginia resort during the weekend.

Then the Republicans mounted their insurgency on the floor, much to the displeasure of some Democrats.

Rep. John D. Dingell (D-Mich.), one of the most widely respected members of the House, answered the GOP’s criticism by saying he was worth the increase.

If House members are not deserving of $135,000 a year, Dingell said, then “the taxpayers are being shortchanged.”