House to Compromise on 30% Pay Hike

WASHINGTON--House Speaker Jim Wright, reacting to growing public outrage, said yesterday the House would let a 51 percent congressional pay raise take effect next week but then vote to cut it back to "a decent raise" of 30 percent.

The Senate, meanwhile, prepared last night to debate a joint resolution killing the big pay raise, and a companion measure to restrict speaking fees and other honoraria received by its members.

House members' public positions, like those of the Senate, have been overwhelmingly against the proposed 51 percent pay increase, which must be disapproved by both chambers before February 8 or it will automatically take effect.

But Wright said yesterday a "clear majority" of the House privately supported his plan for dodging a pre-deadline vote and then voting a partial rollback of the raise along with a ban on honoraria.

However, the restrictive parliamentary procedure planned by the speaker requires a tough two-thirds vote before the bill could be sent to the Senate. The 51 percent raise would remain in effect unless both chambers agreed to cut it back, and House opponents vowed to roll it back to zero whether Wright wins or loses.

"It would be very difficult for the speaker to find two-thirds for this resolution," said Rep. Tom Tauke (R-Iowa).

Wright released partial results of a personal questionnaire, showing 57 percent of House members opposing a pay raise vote before the deadline and 54 percent favoring instead a vote to reduce the raise to 30 percent.

The $26,850 pay raise he was proposing was "a decent raise but not an exorbitant raise," Wright said, compared with the $45,500 increase proposed by former President Ronald Reagan and endorsed by President Bush.

The 30 percent figure was equal to the amount of income House members could lose in a ban on honoraria. The Senate figure is $35,800, as they are currently allowed to retain honoraria equal to 40 percent of their salaries.

House members would still make the same amount of money they make now, he said. "The difference is we will be serving one master, not two, that is, the American people," he said.

Actually, most House members would find their incomes substantially increased, since fewer than half reach the current honoraria limit of 30 percent of income, according to their financial disclosures.

Wright said it was his intention that all top federal officials, including federal judges, would receive the same increase. Under his strategy, federal judges might still win the full 51 percent pay increase, since under the Constitution those new salaries cannot be reduced once enacted.

Wright has met with House Republican leader Bob Michel of Illinois to solicit his endorsement of the plan. There was no immediate GOP support, however, and Wright was joined at his news conference only by four other Democratic members.

Although the Senate vote was long expected, the House leadership's original plan was to weather the storm of public protest and let the pay raise take effect. Then, to lessen the political damage, they planned action on a bipartisan package of reforms including an honoraria ban.

Wright this week changed the course when he promised to hold a vote to kill the raise before the deadline if a majority of House members wanted it.

A subsequent Associated Press survey on Wednesday showed 88 percent of those responding favored such a vote, but Wright said 57 percent of those responding to his private tally wanted the deadline to pass.

Wright's survey "exposes members to a charge of lying," said Ralph Nader, the consumer advocate, citing the Associated Press and surveys by his own organization.