March 11, 2010
McHenry still won’t cut his own Salary
In what would be called a welcomed surprise, The Hill reports that “Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick (D-Ariz.) is raising the bar on freezing lawmaker salaries this week as she continues her push to garner support for her bill that would cut congressional pay by $8,700 next year on top of denying members their automatic cost-of-living increase.” (H.R.4720 “To provide for a 5 percent reduction in the rates of basic pay for Members of Congress.”) A pretty fiscally conservative bill, ironically coming from a Democrat. Her bill has garnered 21 co-sponsors- both Democrats and Republicans- to date.
Of course, Patrick McHenry has largely ignored the bill. As we revealed earlier, Mr. McHenry failed to vote against the automatic pay raise for members of Congress, then subsequently obfuscated the truth to look like he didn’t vote “for” a pay raise. Apparently, it is fine for Patrick McHenry’s constituents to suffer financially during his tenure in Congress as long as he gets his pay increase and hefty benefits.
