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Rep.Jim Matheson- Utah Democrat Opposes Auto Raise For Congress
Thursday, January 1st, 2009 @ 2:45 pm | We Think
In this time of economic hardship for a goodly number of Americans the United States House of Representatives is receiving today a pay increase.
There is one congressional representative who has consistently opposed the automatic pay raise. That person is Jim Matheson , a Democrat from Utah, who for the past eight years of being in office has not only proposed legislation outlawing automatic pay increases for Congress, but he’s given his pay raise to charity.
That’s right. A nearly three percent raise, effective today, January 1st 2009 over the current salary of $169,300 annually plus all those great guv’ment benefits and perks.
“In a situation where there aren’t many people in this country who are seeing their salaries go up, and in fact a lot of people are losing their jobs, the notion that Congress should be having an automatic pay raise without even a vote just doesn’t pass the smell test,” Matheson said
We believe when congress returns Matheson maybe able to change this policy that gives money without even a vote. He has attempted every year to force Congress to vote on whether to accept a raise rather than receive it automatically. He has always failed on procedural votes that would lead to such a straight up-or-down vote.
However, Matheson says the bad economy might just help him win this year, and a government watchdog group is joining his battle to say the raise is a bad idea in such times.
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