Free Republic

WASHINGTON - Senate proposals to raise the minimum wage were rejected Wednesday, making it unlikely that the lowest allowable wage, $5.15 an hour since 1997, will rise in the foreseeable future. A labor-backed measure by Sen. Edward Kennedy would have raised the minimum to $6.25 over an 18-month period. A Republican counterproposal would have combined the same $1.10 increase with breaks and exemptions for small businesses. The Kennedy amendment to a spending bill went down 51-47, and the GOP alternative 57-42. Under a Senate agreement, they would have needed 60 votes for approval. Kennedy, D-Mass., said Hurricane Katrina demonstrated the...

Only a handful of California legislators have turned down the nearly $12,000-a-year pay hike scheduled for December. Nine of every 10 lawmakers remain on track to receive the increase, according to records of the state controller's office. Of Sacramento-area representatives, only Republican Assemblyman Alan Nakanishi of Lodi has formally rejected the raise. Assemblyman Roger Niello, R-Fair Oaks, said Friday that he plans to notify the state soon not to sweeten his paycheck. Statewide, the 12 percent boost is likely to be unpopular with voters but probably won't spark a backlash at the polls, analysts said. "Most legislators are in safe...

25-Foot Pig Greets Returning Lawmakers POSTED: 12:19 pm EDT September 19, 2005 UPDATED: 2:19 pm EDT September 19, 2005 HARRISBURG, Pa. -- A big, pink inflatable pig with the words "Repeal the Illegal Legislative Pay Raise" emblazoned on its side is causing quite a stir outside the Capitol today, where state senators are set to get back to work after their summer break. Political activist Gene Stilp set up the 25 foot-tall swine. He said he's not going to let lawmakers forget about the pay raise the voted in for themselves in July. "This is the first time that the...

County GOP slams pay-raise backers Wants lawmakers to repeal bill, return funds By Charles Lardner, Intelligencer Journal Staff Intelligencer Journal Published: Sep 09, 2005 8:45 AM EST LANCASTER COUNTY, PA - The Republican Committee of Lancaster County Thursday voted overwhelmingly to adopt a resolution criticizing four of the area's state lawmakers for their July votes approving a 16 percent to 34 percent increase in their annual salaries.Among other things, the two-page resolution "renounces and condemns, in the strongest of terms, the vote of every senator and representative who voted against the express will of the people by voting him/herself a...

From: "R L HORVATH" Subject:The thieves in Harrisburg Date:Fri, 19 Aug 2005 01:26:50 Friends, You might have heard some news of the outrageous pay grab by the PA Legislature. The top leadership just got raises that were almost equal to the annual per capita income of PA residents. That's right. Annual per capita income is around $34,000 and these jokers (the top of the food chain) just voted themselves raises of about $34,000 bringing their salary to approximately $145,000 plus all of the perks and benefits and their more than generous pensions. Rather than die down, as has been the...

HOUSTON - The five-member Enron Corp. board of directors has voted for pay raises that boost salaries by as much as $1 million. In a filing with the New York bankruptcy court that oversaw the company's reorganization last year, the board said it voted to increase its compensation retroactively to the beginning of June. It raises the annual salary of Chairman John Ray III, a Wheaton, Ill., bankruptcy specialist, from $200,000 to $1.2 million. Three other board members had their pay double to $300,000, while vice chairman Robert Deutschman, a Santa Monica, Calif., investment banker, now gets $420,000 annually, up...

SACRAMENTO — Approval of a 12 percent pay hike that will elevate the salaries of California legislators — already the nation's highest-paid state lawmakers — to $110,880 annually has set off a new annual salary since taking office in November 2003, was disappointed with the commission's vote, believing the state's fiscal condition — though improving — does not justify a pay raise. "What have they accomplished since 1998 (the last time legislators received a raise)?" he asked. "Because that's what we do in the private sector, we will now analyze what have they accomplished: They have chased businesses out of...

SACRAMENTO (AP) -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger stepped up his attack on the Democrat-controlled state Legislature Wednesday, chiding lawmakers for getting a pay raise despite the state's ongoing fiscal problems. "Isn't that interesting?" Schwarzenegger said in a speech to the California Chamber of Commerce. "Instead of giving the people that really need the money -- like education, health care, healthy families, the poor people, the blind people -- instead of giving them more money, the legislators decided they need the money first. So they're taking the money first." On Monday, an independent state commission granted legislators a 12 percent pay increase,...

SACRAMENTO - A state commission on Monday granted lawmakers a 12 percent pay hike that boosted their annual salaries to $110,880, the highest compensation in the country for state legislators. The salary increase, which will take effect in December, is the first raise for most Assembly and Senate offices since 1998. It was immediately criticized by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who was swept into office in the 2003 recall election when the state faced a nearly $20 billion budget deficit. "Obviously, now is not the time to give politicians in Sacramento more money," said Vince Sollitto, the governor's deputy press secretary....

Senate panel thinks so, but governor says 30% increase is unnecessary AUSTIN – A Senate panel quietly approved a raise of more than 30 percent for the governor and other statewide elected officials Thursday, saying that those officials don't make enough for the "size and scope" of their responsibilities. Gov. Rick Perry's response: Thanks, but no thanks. "The governor has made his feelings about this quite plain to both the Senate and the House," said spokesman Robert Black. "He has no desire for a pay increase. He certainly does not see a need for a statewide pay increase for elected...

CONGRESS LEANING TOWARD 3.5% RAISE FOR FEDERAL WORKERS Thu Nov 18 2004 20:06:33 ET Key members of Congress and staff worked Thursday night to wrap up a fiscal 2005 spending package for federal agencies, and Capitol Hill aides predicted that the legislation would include a provision for a 3.5 percent pay raise for federal employees. WASH POST reporting on Firday: Despite losing every pay raise vote this year, the Bush administration tried Thursday to hang tough on the proposed raise. The White House budget office released a five-page letter to House and Senate appropriators on the spending package and repeated...

Congress Increases Pay While Promoting Government Inefficiency (Washington, D.C.) The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW) today chided the House of Representatives for passing the fiscal 2005 Transportation/Treasury Appropriations Act, H.R. 5025, that includes rule permitting a pay raise for members of Congress and would prevent regulations allowing thousands of federal jobs to be transferred to the private sector from taking effect. “It is ironic, but not surprising, that members of Congress are rewarding themselves with a pay increase in the same piece of legislation in which they are placing a greater burden on taxpayers,” CCAGW President Tom Schatz...

WASHINGTON--With little debate, House lawmakers on Tuesday included themselves as part of a pay raise that all federal employees will receive next year. The cost-of-living raise would be the sixth straight for members of the House and Senate, boosting the salaries of lawmakers, now $158,100, by about $4,000 in the new calendar year. The civil servant COLA is part of an $89.9 billion Transportation and Treasury Department spending bill that the House is expected to pass Wednesday. The Senate has yet to take up the legislation. Like last year, the only House member to speak out against the automatic raise...

 A happy new year?  For US senators and representatives, it certainly is: As of Jan. 1, their salary is $158,100 -- the highest ever and an increase of $3,400 over the amount they collected last year.     Congress is notorious for procrastination, and the tally of unfinished business on Capitol Hill is a long one.  But no one can accuse the legislative branch of dragging its heels when it comes to congressional pay.  Appropriations bills may gather dust, judicial nominations may languish, but members of Congress are johnny-on-the-spot when it comes to their own salaries.  The most recent raise is only...

<p>A HAPPY NEW YEAR? For US senators and representatives, it certainly is: As of Jan. 1, their salary is $158,100 -- an increase of $3,400 over the amount they collected last year.</p> <p>On Jan. 1, 2003, they took a raise of $4,700.</p>

Senators give themselves pay increase Items compiled from Tribune news services October 24, 2003 WASHINGTON, D.C. -- For the fifth straight year, members of Congress will see a jump in their paychecks in 2004, with election-year salaries rising from the current $154,700 to about $158,000. Voting 60-34 Thursday, Senators rejected a proposal to exempt themselves from a cost-of-living increase going to all civilian federal workers and military personnel. Last month, the House, by a similar margin, also turned back an attempt to deny lawmakers an automatic increase. As in past years, the effort to deny senators their pay raise was...

Senate OKs raise in pay for itself WASHINGTON (AP) -- For the fifth straight year, members of Congress will see a jump in their paychecks in 2004, with election-year salaries rising from the current $154,700 to about $158,000. The Senate, on a 60-34 vote Thursday, rejected a proposal to exempt senators from a cost-of-living increase going to all civilian federal workers and military personnel. Last month, the House, by a similar convincing margin, also turned back an attempt to deny lawmakers an automatic share of the COLA increase. "I think that our representatives of government deserve a pay raise consistent...

If you're like most Americans you don't get a raise every year and are glad to have a job and escape a cut in pay, but those swilling at the taxpayers' trough are so very special. The U.S. Senate today voted itself a pay raise for the fifth year in a row, to about $158,000 in 2004, in addition to all its usual lavish perks. The House of Representatives also kindly agreed last month to accept the 2.2 percent raise. Sen. Russell Feingold, D-Wis., who every year opposes "this automatic stealth pay raise system," said that with the economy...

<p>Associated Press A soldier of the 101st Airborne Division stands near a Humvee destroyed by an explosive in Mosul on Thursday. Eight soldiers were injured in the blast, but their names and units were not released Thursday.</p> <p>WASHINGTON -- Senate approval Thursday of a $368 billion Defense Department budget should bring a sigh of relief to thousands of Tennessee soldiers and their families who worried about possible pay cuts.</p>

<p>If your pay raise this year seems to have its decimal point in the wrong place, you are not alone. Hewitt Associates reported this week that salary increases nationwide for 2003 are the smallest in the 27 years since Hewitt began its annual pay survey.</p>