Rep. Forbes proposes cutting members' salaries as spending increases

Rep. Randy Forbes (R-Va.) has introduced legislation that would require the salaries of members of Congress to be cut by the same percentage that federal spending increases.

Forbes said his bill is needed to help focus the minds of members on reducing federal spending.

"Everybody agrees on one thing, that we need to fix the out of control spending," Forbes told The Hill Thursday. "This gives us an opportunity to do something rare and make legislators have skin in the game."

"It's one thing to say that we are going to pay [members of Congress] when they've done the job that we pay them to do," he told the Richmond Times-Dispatch. "But when they are not averting the major problem that's facing the country — our out-of-control spending — I just don't think they deserve the same compensation as if they succeed."

The Congressional Accountability Pay (CAP) Act, H.R. 284, was introduced Tuesday, and referred to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, and the Committee on House Administration.

The bill is one of a handful that members have put forward to freeze or cut congressional pay. Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-Fla.) has a bill that would prevent a pay hike for members of Congress after a year in which the government ran a budget deficit.

Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) has proposed no pay increase for members of Congress for the next two years, Reps. Jim Matheson (D-Utah) and Bob Latta (R-Ohio) have proposed ending automatic increases, and Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-Ga.) has proposed the Member Pay Freeze Act.

Rep. Kevin Yoder (R-Kan.) has a bill that would go beyond freezing member pay, and would cut it by 5 percent. 

— This story was updated at 12:56 p.m.

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