Hightower Lowdown

In a move that’d make an Arthur Andersen executive envious, the House of Representatives recently—and very quietly—passed H.R. 448, which reads: “At any time after the adoption of this resolution, the speaker may, pursuant to clause 2(b) of rule XVIII, declare the House resolved into the committee of the whole.”

What this bit of gobbledygook actually did was to raise our reps’ pay by $5,000 each, lifting them to $155,000 a year. Here’s the trick: In 1989, Congress awarded itself an annual cost-of-living pay increase, making it part of the appropriation bill for the Treasury Department. This pay hike is automatic, unless a member offers an amendment to delete it, which then requires a direct up-or-down vote. Such a vote is politically messy, especially in election years, hence H.R. 448.

Under this procedural move, no amendments can be offered to the Treasury Department’s funding bill. In other words, this sneaky bill says to members: “You can’t say no to a pay raise.”

Dick Armey, the G.O.P. majority leader who helped rig the system, is indignant about criticism: “Congress didn’t vote themselves a pay raise,” he explains. “We just simply did not deny ourselves that normal increase in our cost of living that every other worker in America not only expects, but insists upon.”
What a bozo! Either these guys are clueless, or they think we’re stupid.