WORKING ON THE HILL: Support Growing for Hill Staff Pay Hikes

A bipartisan coalition of advocacy groups spanning the ideological spectrum is calling on Congress to increase pay for staffers working for individual senators and representatives and for congressional committees.

And for the first time in a long time, it appears more than a few members of the House of Representatives agree. The raises would come via increases in the Members Representation Allowance (MRA), the office budgets from which all staff hiring and compensation is made.

The accompanying chart shows the downward trend in MRA funding in recent decades.

“Providing staff appropriate compensation for their work and ensuring sufficient staff levels in offices are essential to retain expert staff, promote staff diversity, and ensure sufficient staff expertise. Unfortunately, the House of Representatives made double-digit percentage cuts to funding levels for personal and committee oversees over the last quarter century,” the coalition said in a recent letter to House Appropriations Committee Chairman Rosa de Lauro (D-CN) and Rep. Kay Granger (R-TX), the ranking minority member.

“Members of both parties have spoken out about this problem, and expressed support for sensible adjustments to the MRA. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) and Democratic Caucus Chair Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) expressed their support for a 20 percent increase to MRAs,” the letter said.

“House Modernization Committee Vice Chair Timmons (R-SC) has argued for an increase in funding for the Legislative Branch in excess of 10 percent, and Rep. Betty McCollum (D-MN) spoke eloquently before the House Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress on the difficulties of retaining experienced staff,” the letter continued.

“And the late Elijah Cummings (D-MD), in his capacity as Chairman of the House Oversight Committee, testified during the last Congress about ways in which funding cuts have hindered bipartisan oversight of waste, fraud, and abuse,” the letter said.

The coalition behind the letter included representatives from American Family Voices and Demand Progress on the Left to the American Enterprise Institute and the Lincoln Network on the Right.

House Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress Chairman Derek Kilmer (D-WA) told The Epoch Times earlier this week that “it is long overdue that Congress makes the necessary investments to attract and hold onto a diverse, talented workforce. Congressional staffers play an essential role in carrying out our representational and legislative responsibilities, and we know that offering competitive salaries is a key way to retain our nation’s best and brightest.”

And Rep. William Timmons (R-SC), the select committee’s vice-chairman, agreed, telling Epoch that attention is needed for “staff training, [and to] consider improved benefits, and explore ways to create a better work-life balance. In the end, improving policies and programs here in the House that help us retain our most experienced and talented staff will make Congress work better for the American people.”

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