Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., falsely accused House Republicans of attempting to “provide themselves with a pay raise” Saturday as she objected to a stopgap spending bill before ultimately voting for the measure.
DeLauro said there were “many changes” between the bill that was offered in the House and the version that was offered in the Senate, with one being a pay increase for those serving in Congress.
“Here is one that I believe the majority will not mention,” DeLauro said. “They amend the Senate bill to give themselves a pay raise. A pay raise. It’s there. You can look at me, you can smile but what you did was you amended the Senate bill to give yourselves a pay raise.”
DeLauro’s claim was met with immediate pushback from House Republicans, who shouted her down, yelling “That’s false.”
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Expounding on her claim in a post to social media, DeLauro wrote, “The Member Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA) automatically takes effect unless it is blocked. The Senate blocked this in their CR. The House GOP CR does not.
“News flash: a COLA is a pay increase for Members of Congress.”
Rep. Austin Scott, R-Ga., later took issue with DeLauro’s statement, claiming it was “simply not true” and an “excuse” not to vote in favor of the measure.
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Disproving DeLauro’s claim, Scott read aloud the 27th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which states: “No law, varying the compensation for the services of the Senators and Representatives, shall take effect, until an election of Representatives shall have intervened.”
“You need to know who’s telling you the truth and who’s not telling you the truth,” Scott said. “Recently, you heard my colleague from Connecticut tell you that the Republican bill has a pay raise for members in Congress. It’s simply not true, and if it did, it would be unconstitutional. And if the Senate bill changes the compensation for members of Congress, then it, too, is unconstitutional.”
“They are simply grasping at straws. They have intended to shut down the government from the start,” Scott added. “Disregard totally what you’re hearing from the other side. They are grasping at straws, making excuses and telling flat-out lies about member compensation as an excuse to vote against this piece of legislation.”
The House of Representatives later voted to pass the short-term spending bill, moving to avoid a government shutdown if the Senate adopts the measure.
The bill now heads to the Senate. If it’s expedited there, Congress could just narrowly avoid seeing thousands of federal employees furloughed and nonessential government programs paused.
House lawmakers on both sides of the aisle broke into applause in a rare moment of bipartisanship after the short-term bill known as a continuing resolution (CR), passed 335 to 91. Every Democrat but one voted for the bill, and 90 Republican members voted against it.
The funding patch will last for 45 days past the end of the fiscal year, which concludes Saturday. The bill also includes $16 billion for U.S. disaster relief aid President Biden requested over the summer, Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said Saturday.
It comes after House Republicans tried and failed to pass a separate stopgap funding bill that contained conservative policy items like border security and spending cuts. The national debt reached $33 trillion for the first time in history in September, amplifying concerns among conservatives that government spending is out of control.
Fox News’ Elizabeth Elkind and Houston Keene contributed to this report.
