Pay Increase, Honorariums Plan Expected

A bipartisan House task force has decided to recommend a substantial pay increase for Congress, coupled with a phasing out of honorariums, and will present the tentative plan to Democratic and Republican leaders later this week, informed sources said Tuesday.

The pay plan, which would contain a provision for cost-of-living raises in the years ahead, would be coupled with a tightening of some House rules on financial disclosure, gifts and travel, and reductions in the amounts of outside earned income that members may accept.

Most of the recommendations will amount to adjustments, rather than wholesale changes, in House policies that have drawn fire from critics, but the task force is expected to recommend basic and perhaps far-reaching changes in the House Ethics Committee. It would split that committee into two panels, one that would function as a grand jury to bring charges and the other to judge the charges.

Any final plan would be up to House leaders of both parties, who are described as pessimistic that any pay-raise plan can be sold to the public.

The task force was formed earlier this year after a presidential panel recommended a 51% pay increase for the House and Senate. Groups around the country, led by radio talk programs, many newspapers and consumer advocate Ralph Nader, protested and forced defeat of that proposal.

The task force is not expected to recommend a raise as high as 51%. Sources said its recommendation will be more complicated, effective over a greater time and probably less than 30%.