76-01-B2
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Congress' Automatic Pay Raise[edit]
Transcript[edit]Wallace Johnson of Berkeley, California, isn't one to shrink from a tough job. He was mayor of that city during the turbulent Sixties when the University of California campus was often in turmoil. He never lost his cool. A successful businessman who long ago took his employees into part ownership with him, he now devotes virtually all his time to public causes. A few years ago, when more people voted in his city than were eligible to vote, Wally Johnson began a campaign to detect and eliminate vote fraud. Last year, as he was returning from an overseas trip, he learned about the passage of HR 2559, which grants to Members of Congress automatic annual pay increases. He was incensed. He decided to do something about it. Of all things, he wound up running for Vice President of the United States in order to get this bill repealed. But I'm getting ahead of my story. First, the background of the bill. The details began to surface after it had passed. It seems that back in February, 1975, some Congressmen began looking quietly for a way to vote themselves a pay increase that would insulate them from the effects of inflation. They conferred with members of the President's staff. Finally, they settled on an obscure postal workers' safety bill as the "vehicle" to carry their pay increase. They attached it as a rider to the bill, which moved through the early steps in both houses easily and without attracting attention. On July 29, the Senate passed it. The next day it came before the House of Representatives for the final vote. Although the Congressional Record for that day records several strong statements in opposition, the House voted 214 to 213 for passage. What did Wally Johnson do about it? First, he filed a law suit in Federal District Court to have the bill declared unconstitutional. Then, he filed as a candidate for Vice President in the New Hampshire Republican primary. New Hampshire is the only state that has a separate Vice Presidential primary. Johnson made it clear as he crisscrossed the snow-covered Granite State, that he was on the ballot to draw attention to the Congressional pay raise bill and to get it repealed. People listened. They asked the Presidential candidates about it frequently. On election day in February , Wally Johnson got 75 percent of New Hampshire's votes. In August, at the Republican convention in Kansas City, Johnson presented his case to members of the Platform Committee. The convention adopted a plank calling for repeal of the bill. Now, there is legislation in Congress to do just that. Johnson sums it up this way, "We are not opposed to salary adjustments for legislators from time to time in accordance with the historical precedent of adequate public discussion, and if enacted by their predecessors, not by themselves. That we are opposed to, is (1) legislators raising their own salaries during their current term: (2) Representatives using maneuver instead of candor with their constituents; and (3) policy makers legislating themselves , with respect to inflation, into a favored status not shared by most other citizens." October First, the President must decide whether to activate the automatic Congressional pay raise for another year. Let's hope he doesn't. This is Ronald Reagan. Thanks for listening. |
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