CONGRESS SHOULD RESCIND NEXT YEAR'S PAY INCREASE
Davis continues push to permanently end annual pay increaseOctober 6, 2005

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- U.S. Rep. Lincoln Davis, a strong proponent of permanently ending the annual pay increase for Members of Congress, banded with a handful of colleagues by cosigning the Rescind the Congressional Pay Raise Act. The legislation will stop the $4,000 pay increase scheduled for January 2006.

Citing the rising cost of gasoline, natural gas, the War in Iraq, reconstruction along the Gulf Coast, and job loss in the Fourth District Davis remarked, "It is unconscionable for Congress to receive an annual pay raise while so many people are willingly sacrificing during this trying time and others are just getting by. The American people need to tell their Representatives this is wrong and the practice of allowing an automatic pay increase should be put to an end, permanently."

Members of Congress automatically receive an adjustment unless Members themselves vote to block the increase from occurring. Earlier this summer an attempt by Rep. Jim Matheson (D-UT) was made to offer an amendment to block the pay raise, but was defeated by a procedural motion. While in the Tennessee Legislature and now in the U.S. House of Representatives Davis has consistently voted against a pay raise for legislators. Davis has donated proceeds realized from these increases to church and charity.