Lawmakers File Suit Against Pay Raise
WASHINGTON — A planned congressional pay raise, which would boost lawmakers’ salaries to $133,600 on Jan. 1, was challenged in a federal court lawsuit Thursday by 20 members of Congress plus nearly 100 House and Senate candidates.
The more than $340-a-month, 3.2% cost-of-living increase should be declared in violation of the 27th Amendment, according to the suit filed in U.S. District Court. Rank-and-file House and Senate members currently earn $129,500.
The amendment, written by James Madison in 1789 but ratified just this year, requires that an election intervene between the approval of a congressional pay raise and its effective date.
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