Congressional Research Service

Salaries of Members of Congress Congressional Research Service

Congress is required by Article I, Section 6, of the Constitution to determine its own pay. In the past, Congress periodically enacted specific legislation to alter its pay; the last time this occurred affected pay in 1991. More recently, pay has been determined pursuant to laws establishing formulas for automatic adjustments. The Ethics Reform Act of 1989 established the current automatic annual adjustment formula, which is based on changes in private sector wages as measured by the Employment Cost Index (ECI). The adjustment is automatic unless denied statutorily, although the percentage may not exceed the percentage base pay increase for General Schedule (GS) employees. Member pay has since been frozen in two ways: (1) directly, through legislation that freezes salaries for Members but not for other federal employees, and (2) indirectly, through broader pay freeze legislation that covers Members and other specified categories of federal employees. Members of Congress last received a pay adjustment in January 2009. At that time, their salary was increased 2.8%, to $174,000. This freeze represents a decrease of 12% from 2009 through 2017 when adjusted for inflation. A provision in P. L. 111-8 prohibited any pay adjustment for 2010. Under the pay adjustment formula, Members were originally scheduled to receive an adjustment in January 2010 of 2.1%, although this would have been revised downward automatically to 1.5% to match the GS base pay adjustment. Members next were scheduled to receive a 0.9% pay adjustment in 2011. The pay adjustment was prohibited by P. L. 111-165. Additionally, P. L. 111-322 prevented any adjustment in GS base pay before December 31, 2012. Since the percentage adjustment in Member pay may not exceed the percentage adjustment in the base pay of GS employees, Member pay was also frozen during this period. If not limited by GS pay, Member pay could have been adjusted by 1.3% in 2012. The ECI formula established a maximum potential pay adjustment in January 2013 of 1.1%. P. L. 112-175 extended the freeze on GS pay rates for the duration of this continuing resolution, which also extended the Member freeze since the percentage adjustment in Member pay may not exceed the percentage adjustment in GS base pay. Subsequently, Member pay for 2013 was further frozen in P. L. 112-240. The maximum potential 2014 pay adjustment of 1.2%, or $2,100, was denied by P. L. 113-46. The maximum potential January 2015 Member pay adjustment under the ECI formula was 1.6%, or $2,800. The President proposed a 1.0% increase in the base pay of GS employees, which would automatically have limited any Member pay adjustment to 1.0%. P. L. 113-235 contained a provision prohibiting any Member pay adjustment. The maximum potential January 2016 pay adjustment of 1.7%, or $3,000, under the ECI formula would have been limited to 1.0%, or $1,700, due to the GS base pay increase. Member pay for 2016 was frozen by P. L. 114-113. The maximum potential January 2017 pay adjustment of 1.6%, or $2,800, under the ECI formula would have been limited to 1.0%, or $1,700, due to the GS base pay increase. Member pay for 2017 was frozen by P. L. 114-254. The maximum potential January 2018 pay adjustment of 1.8%, or $3,100, was automatically limited to 1.4%, or $2,400. The FY2018 continuing appropriations resolutions have continued the existing pay freeze for the duration of each resolution. If Members of Congress had received every adjustment prescribed by the ECI formula since 1992, and the 2 U. S. C. §4501 limitation regarding the percentage base pay increase for GS employees remained unchanged, the 2018 salary would be $208,000. Both the automatic annual adjustments and funding for Members' salaries are provided pursuant to other laws (2 U. S. C. §4501)-not the annual appropriations bills-and a provision prohibiting a scheduled adjustment could be included in any bill, or introduced as a separate bill.