Lower Bucks Today

WASHINGTON, DC — Congressmen Brian Fitzpatrick (PA-01) and Jared Golden (ME-02) have renewed their call for congressional leaders to exclude a proposed cost of living adjustment (COLA) for members of Congress from the FY2025 federal budget. Fitzpatrick commended the House Appropriations Legislative Branch Subcommittee, led by Chair David Valadao (CA-22), for their efforts to block the pay increase and expressed pride in joining the initiative against congressional pay raises.

Fitzpatrick and Golden sent a bipartisan letter, co-signed by three other members, to Speaker of the House Mike Johnson and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, urging them to reject member pay raises once again.

“As you know, our nation is confronting a series of challenges: working families and our small businesses are continuing to struggle to make ends meet from inflation, our immigration system is broken, and our global adversaries are aggressively seeking to expand their influence in Europe, the Middle East, and the Indo-Pacific,” wrote the lawmakers. “Despite these realities, most members of Congress currently receive an annual salary of $174,000 a year, more than approximately 90 percent of American households…”

“Until Congress can demonstrate to the American people that it can work in a bipartisan, bicameral way to move our country forward, we believe that excluding Member COLA language in the appropriations bill is the right thing to do,” they added.

“It is an honor to serve in Congress, where our sole mission is to work together to address the rising challenges facing our nation and deliver results for our communities and constituents,” said Rep. Fitzpatrick. “As hardworking families across the country struggle to make ends meet, they deserve to know that their Members of Congress are fighting to address these issues, lower costs, and champion initiatives that directly benefit and better them—not working to increase our own salaries.”

“It was only three months ago that we successfully blocked a Congressional pay raise in the FY2024 budget, and here we are once again having to remind our colleagues that public service is about our constituents, not our paychecks,” said Rep. Golden.

Fitzpatrick has been an outspoken opponent of congressional pay raises since he took office.