Hmm! They wouldn’t like that. I’m not sure it would be the best way, because stuff they can’t control keeps happening all the time. There’s probably a better way to assess them and pay them accordingly. I just don’t know what it is!

1. I prefer an inactive gridlocked Congress 
2. They should have their pay docked by whatever percentage of the budget is deficit spending

Undisciplined

A Congress that routinely misses budget deadlines and adds to an unsustainable debt burden should not expect automatic raises with no accountability.

 the inflation adjustments lawmakers have spent 

. But before legislators get a raise, Congress should first do its most important job: budgeting responsibly. 

 that Congress likely violated the Constitution’s Twenty-Seventh Amendment by repeatedly canceling automatic cost-of-living adjustments for lawmakers’ pay. Since 2009, 

 have remained frozen at $174,000, even as inflation steadily eroded their value by about 31 percent. 

Members fear the political backlash of voting for higher pay. But the broader issue is not whether congressional compensation should keep pace with inflation. The real problem is that Congress routinely fails to fulfill its most basic fiscal responsibilities while operating one of the largest and most indebted governments in the world — an increasingly dysfunctional enterprise.

Imagine executives at a major corporation repeatedly failing to adopt budgets on time, relying on temporary patches to keep operations running, and allowing debt to spiral out of control. Smart shareholders would not reward those executives with automatic raises. They would demand financial accountability and better performance.

Politics_And_Law

econ

> **A Congress that routinely misses budget deadlines and adds to an unsustainable debt burden should not expect automatic raises with no accountability.**
>
> Congress may [finally receive](https://www.ntu.org/foundation/detail/taxpayers-on-the-hook-for-congressional-back-pay-lawsuit) the inflation adjustments lawmakers have spent [years blocking](https://www.thefiscaltimes.com/2026/05/26/Congress-Violated-Law-Canceling-Its-Own-Pay-Raises-Court-Says). But before legislators get a raise, Congress should first do its most important job: budgeting responsibly. 
>
> A federal judge [recently ruled](https://www.politico.com/news/2026/05/26/congress-member-pay-ruling-00934248) that Congress likely violated the Constitution’s Twenty-Seventh Amendment by repeatedly canceling automatic cost-of-living adjustments for lawmakers’ pay. Since 2009, [congressional salaries](https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/97-1011) have remained frozen at $174,000, even as inflation steadily eroded their value by about 31 percent. 
>
> Members fear the political backlash of voting for higher pay. But the broader issue is not whether congressional compensation should keep pace with inflation. The real problem is that Congress routinely fails to fulfill its most basic fiscal responsibilities while operating one of the largest and most indebted governments in the world — an increasingly dysfunctional enterprise.
>
> Imagine executives at a major corporation repeatedly failing to adopt budgets on time, relying on temporary patches to keep operations running, and allowing debt to spiral out of control. Smart shareholders would not reward those executives with automatic raises. They would demand financial accountability and better performance.
>
> [**...read more at thedailyeconomy.org**](https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/if-congress-wants-a-raise-it-should-do-its-job/)