U.S. lawmakers have come a long way since making $6 a day in 1789, but their six-figure annual salary has remained frozen in time since 2009.
The current annual salary for a U.S. senator — as well as members of the U.S. House of Representatives — is $174,000. The government-paid salary, set in 2009, reflects a $4,700 pay bump from 2008, but has not been raised since.
Nevertheless, the income is still more than double the median household income which currently stands at $82,207, according to MotioResearch.
By comparison, majority and minority leaders in both chambers receive $193,400. The speaker of the House receives $223,500 annually.
Unlike individuals in other professions, Congress essentially has direct control over the salary of its members, in the sense that any raise or decrease in member compensation must be “ascertained by Law” according to Article I, Section 6 of the U.S. Constitution. Checks and balances in the legislative process surrounding compensation, however, keep members from giving themselves million-dollar pay raises each year.
“A change in salary must be done via a bill or joint resolution, both of which are presented to the President for a signature. Thus, the President could veto a bill changing Members’ salaries if he thought it inappropriate,” explains a 2019 report from the Congressional Institute.
That said, perhaps the most powerful protection against inflated salaries in Congress is the ballot box, and the voting public’s general skepticism toward increases in Senate pay.
“Members know constituents are skeptical of congressional pay increases, so they hate voting for them,” according to the Congressional Institute.
Do senators get a cost of living adjustment?
In spite of public scrutiny, Congress has managed to keep itself among the highest paying professions.
After public outrage quashed a brash attempt by Congress to increase member pay by 51% in early 1989, a more modest hike of 10% was passed through The Ethics Reform Act of 1989, signed into law by President George Bush on Nov. 30, 1989.
Described by CQ Almanac at the time as “the most sweeping rewrite of the congressional code of conduct in 12 years,” the legislation allowed salaries for congressional members to reach $125,000 in 1991, a nearly 40% increase from the $89,500 salary that had been set in 1987.
The ethics reform also established an annual automatic cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for members of Congress based on the previous year’s Employment Cost Index, an increase they have refused since 2009 — likely to avoid blowback from voters.
If Congress had accepted each of those increases over the years, their annual salary would have reached $208,000 in 2023, as previously reported by CBS News. Meanwhile, a report by Congressional Research Service estimates senators are actually making 29% less than they were in 2009 because of inflation.
How wealthy is the typical senator?
But pay raises can come in less obvious forms, such as subsidies. As reported last January by the New York Times, a provision passed by Congress in late 2022 allowed lawmakers to claim reimbursements for gas, food and lodging while on official business in Washington — the equivalent of a $34,000 tax-free pay raise, according to the Times.
Most U.S. senators built their fortunes before becoming members of Congress, according to Investopedia. A 2019 financial disclosure showed that half of the members of Congress were millionaires, according to Open Secrets. Senators are required by Ethics in Government Act of 1978 to disclose their financial assets each year.
Multi-millionaires in the U.S. Senate including Sen. Rick Scott, Republican of Florida, whose net worth is estimated to be roughly $548 million, according to Quiver Quantitative. Sen. Mark Warner, Democrat of Virginia, and Mitt Romney, Republican of Utah, follow, each with an estimated net worth of $245 million an $234 million respectively.
Still, with every year the Senate rejects a COLA adjustment for its members, the argument for pay raises heats up in their favor.