Ted Poe Speaks Against White House Pay Raise

Sequestration takes effect in 4 days. Set up under the Budget Control Act, which I voted against, sequestration was the White House’s idea to help urge the “Super Committee” to agree on massive spending cuts. That failed. Since then, the House has passed two different plans (H.R. 5652 and H.R. 6684) to replace the President’s sequester with responsible spending cuts. But, the Senate refused to consider either bill. Now, thousands of Americans face furlough and pink slips.

Meanwhile, aware of this impending deadline, the Administration somehow thought that an Executive Order giving a pay raise to Members of Congress, the Vice President, the Cabinet, White House staff and federal employees was appropriate. It is not. That’s why I was pleased to vote for H.R. 273, which overturns the President’s automatic pay raises, saving taxpayers an estimated $11 billion. I have repeatedly voted against pay raises for Members of Congress. Jobs are hard to come by and our nation is in a fiscal hole the size of the Grand Canyon, and yet the Administration is asking for American families to once again foot the bill. H.R. 273 passed the House with bipartisan support. I urge the Senate to pass this common sense legislation.