{"id":1103,"date":"2011-12-24T18:08:39","date_gmt":"2011-12-25T01:08:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gashler.com\/nlc\/?p=1103"},"modified":"2011-12-24T18:08:39","modified_gmt":"2011-12-25T01:08:39","slug":"lets-have-roll-call-vote","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gashler.com\/nlc\/?p=1103","title":{"rendered":"Let&#8217;s Have Roll Call Vote"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/gashler.com\/nlc\/scans\/Editorials_1971-1975\/Editorial.jpg\"><img style=\"margin: 12px\" src=\"http:\/\/gashler.com\/nlc\/default_thm.jpg\" alt=\"Click to see original image\" align=\"right\"><\/a>If leaders in Congress are really serious about a new muchpublicized ethics program they will veer away from a backdoor salary boost for top federal officials and decree a congressional vote on the controversial proposition. This is something they apparently aren&#8217;t planning to do. Washington reports say neither house of Congress plans action before the deadline under which the pay increase &#8211; recommended by a federal salary commission and approved by Presidents Ford and Carter &#8211; takes effect Feb. 20. The plan would give members of Congress a 29 per cent raise A which, judging by past performances, could touch off new pay demands in private and public sectors and accelerate the inflation rate   something this country doesn&#8217;t need. Under the convenient plan, the proposed increases become automatic unless one of the two houses votes to reject it. In the Herald&#8217;s opinion this is a shabby policy for the country&#8217;s highest law-making body to embrace and a poor example for lawmakers at other levels of government. Why not require a roll-call vote&#8217;? The Senate has crushed attempts to bring about a vote on the increases, and the House shunted the proposal to a subcommittee and plans no action before deadline, say news dispatches. A bipartisan group of congressmen said members of the House probably would vote to reject the raise if they had a chance. &#8220;But there has been no leadership from either side of the aisle to bring the matter to a vote,&#8221; Rep. Larry Pressler, RS.D. told a news conference. Pressler and Rep. James Jeffords, R-Vt. have a suit pending before the Supreme Court that would mandate a recorded vote on all congressional pay raises. The proposal would boost members of Congress from $44,600 to $57,500, up $12,900 &#8211; which seems excessive in view of all the benefits that accrue to the office. Numerous other, high level officials &#8211; executive and judiciary, also would get large increases. Sen. Frank Church, D-Idaho, is among those opposed to the massive hike. He favors a cost-ofliving adjustment instead. Sen. Jake Garn, Pt-Utah, introduced a resolution disapproving the pay boost for Congress but allowing for increased &#8211; salary recommendations for federal executives and the judiciary. Rep. Dan Marriott, R-Utah, has been vocal in his opposition to the large raise. Sen. Orrin Hatch, RUtah, blames the Democratic leadership for allowing the pay hike to move toward reality without a vote. He said the Senate leaders had tabled two resolutions and an amendment to a committee reorganization bill which he sponsored in an effort to bring the boosts up for a vote. Time is running out. The Senate has recessed until next Monday, making a vote by that body impossible by deadline, since the automatic raise takes effect Sunday. rrr =&#8211;ir &#8216; i A 3%&#8221;&#8217;v The Herald appeals to Congress to at least give the rank and file .members a chance to vote yes or no &#8211; even if it means extending the deadline, retroactively or otherwise. Isn&#8217;t a roll call vote the democratic way to go&#8217;?  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If leaders in Congress are really serious about a new muchpublicized ethics program they will veer away from a backdoor salary boost for top federal officials and decree a congressional vote on the controversial proposition. This is something they apparently aren&#8217;t planning to do. Washington reports say neither house of Congress plans action before the&hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/gashler.com\/nlc\/?p=1103\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Let&#8217;s Have Roll Call Vote<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gashler.com\/nlc\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1103"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gashler.com\/nlc\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gashler.com\/nlc\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gashler.com\/nlc\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gashler.com\/nlc\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1103"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gashler.com\/nlc\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1103\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gashler.com\/nlc\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1103"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gashler.com\/nlc\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1103"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gashler.com\/nlc\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1103"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}