(only) Bayh, Pence, Burton, and Ellsworth refuse Congressional pay raise

Maureen Groppe from Gannett in the C-J on what to do with the automatic, cost-of-living raise for Congress...

I'm ambivalent about this.

On the one hand, cost-of-living adjustments (COLA's) are par for the course-- as wages keep up with inflation. It's also unnecessary and unseemly to see Congress vote for its own raise periodically (ignoring inflation) or regularly (just go with a COLA).

On the other hand, during a recession, "real" wages will decline. "Nominal" wages may stay the same or increase some, but less than the rate of inflation-- reducing "real" income and purchasing power.

So, it's a good idea at least politically and probably ethically to refuse the usual COLA in times of recession.

Anyway, here are excerpts from Groppe's report on the Indiana Congressional delegation...

Four of Indiana's 11 members of Congress say they'll give up their automatic $4,700 pay raise next year. The other seven either did not return calls or declined to say whether they'd keep the raise, which increases lawmakers' yearly salaries to $174,000....

Pay for members of Congress automatically increases by a cost-of-living adjustment unless lawmakers vote to block it. But they also can decide on their own not to accept the increase...

Rep. Mike Pence said he will donate his pay raise to charities that help Hoosier children and families....

Rep. Dan Burton, R-Indianapolis, said if Congress doesn't pass a bill stopping the annual automatic pay increase, he will return his 2009 increase to the Treasury....

Rep. Brad Ellsworth, D-Evansville, donated his 2008 pay increase to charity and will do so again in 2009 to fulfill a campaign promise...

Spokesmen for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., declined to say whether the leaders are considering freezing pay for all lawmakers....

Most years, Democrats and Republicans collaborate on preventing a straight vote on the issue. Instead, lawmakers have sometimes been asked to vote on a procedural move of whether to allow debate on the issue.

When the House last voted in 2007 on whether to protect the 2008 increase, Burton, Pence and Reps. Steve Buyer, R-Monticello, and Pete Visclosky, D-Merrillville, voted to prevent a debate. Reps. Ellsworth, Joe Donnelly, D-Granger, and Baron Hill, D-Seymour, voted for the debate. Rep. Andre Carson, D-Indianapolis, was not in Congress.

When the Senate voted in 2005, Bayh supported a freeze and Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., voted to keep the increase....