Every Jan. 1 Congress receives an automatic pay increase unless members of the legislature vote to block it. That rarely happens.

Because of a procedural rule that enables Congress to accept the pay raise without having a straight up-or-down vote on it, critics call it a stealth pay raise. Such a move has an added benefit for lawmakers: They can avoid going on the record.

Jeff Jacoby, writing for The Boston Globe, said the rule violates the 27th Amendment, which “limits the power of Congress to change its salary by preventing any pay raise from taking effect until the voters have had their say. Members of the House and Senate are free to alter the next Congress’s salary, but they are prevented from enlarging their own.”

Despite having the lowest approval ratings in Gallup Poll history — 14 percent in July — lawmakers recently gave themselves a $4,700 raise, a 2.8 percent increase over last year’s pay. The raise brought the salary for most members of Congress in 2009 to $174,000.

The top six leaders of Congress earn even more. The speaker of the House earns $223,500, while the majority and minority leaders of both chambers and the Senate president pro tempore each earn $193,400.

In nine of the last 10 years, Congress has given itself a raise, totaling more than $30,000. During the same time period, the median income of U.S. families has risen by just $11,000.

Congress’s approval rating has dipped below 20 percent for only six times in Gallup’s 34-year history of measuring it. Including this latest reading, four of those readings occurred in 2007 and 2008.

As the recession deepens, more Americans are finding themselves out of work, being forced to work fewer hours, or having to accept cuts in pay and benefits.

Tom Schantz, president of Citizens Against Government Waste, a nonprofit taxpayer watchdog group, said in a recent press release, “Congress should be mortified to accept a raise. They failed to pass most of their appropriations bills, the deficit is on pace to reach an unprecedented $1 trillion, and the national debt stands at $10 trillion.”

Lack of transparency and accountability

Many lawmakers have been demanding increased corporate transparency and accountability in light of the international financial meltdown, complaining that more regulatory oversight is needed to prevent future problems and to protect taxpayer dollars.

Some economists and analysts blame the financial crisis on Congress for failing to carry out its regulatory oversight responsibilities, for massive overspending, and for creating laws that led to the mortgage credit crisis by requiring mortgage originators, such as Countrywide Financial, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac, to lend to high-risk borrowers.

While much of the debate has centered on companies taking federal bailout dollars, Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass, chairman of the House Financial Services panel, has sought legislation to force all publicly traded companies to restrict “excessive CEO compensation” and to require new compensation disclosures for a company’s principal executive officers. The legislation would include short- and long-term performance measures used for determining officers’ compensation and whether these measures were met.

Even as some lawmakers have criticized corporate ethics and accused executives and board directors of having conflicts of interest that potentially harm their stockholders, Congress has had its own share of ethical scandals, conflicts of interest, and financial misdeeds.

In October, the Justice Department began investigating possible public corruption charges involving special mortgage deals that Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., and Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., might have received from former Countrywide Financial employees.

The Associated Press reported recently that the House Ethics Committee was expanding its investigation of Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee — which writes tax laws — to determine whether he protected an oil drilling company from paying a large tax bill after the company’s CEO gave $1 million to a college center named after the congressman. Rangel already was being investigated for allegedly failing to pay taxes on $75,000 in income from a rental property in the Dominican Republic.

Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, was convicted in October on seven felony counts of violating federal ethics laws for failing to report more than $250,000 in improper gifts he received over a seven-year period.

Dodd, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, has received more than any other lawmaker from Fannie and Freddie’s PACs and employees. The contributions total $133,900 since 1989. Other top recipients include Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., Conrad, and Sen. Robert Bennett, R-Utah.

Financial firms have also been among the largest contributors to Barack Obama’s presidential campaign and to his inauguration fund.

Employees of Citibank, which received $45 billion in bailout money and is asking for billions more from the TARP funds, has given $113,000 to Obama’s inauguration, the largest donation to the fund thus far.

Goldman Sachs employees have donated $44,500 to the inauguration fund, and they were the second-largest contributor — $884,907 — to Obama’s campaign. Citigroup employees gave $586,866 to Obama’s campaign, the seventh-largest contributor, and Morgan Stanley employees gave $425,502 to Obama’s campaign.

Fighting the pay raise

A few lawmakers have consistently fought automatic pay raises. Among them is Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, who, according a recent Deseret News article, has tried vainly every year since he was first elected to Congress in 2000 to force a straight up-or-down vote. With the economic downturn, Matheson predicted lawmakers in the new 111th Congress might be more interested in forcing the issue to a vote.

Early in 2009, three bills were introduced in the House and one in the Senate to deal with this issue. All members of the N.C. delegation were contacted. Of those who responded, most added they would likely support any bill to stop pay raises, should one come up for a vote.

The first bill, H.R. 156, would prevent members of Congress from receiving any automatic pay adjustment in 2010. N.C. delegation cosponsors are Reps. Walter Jones, R-3rd, Howard Coble, R-6th; Sue Myrick, R-9; Larry Kissell, D-8th; and Heath Shuler, D-11th. Rep. David Price, D-4th, plans to cosponsor the bill, according to his spokesperson, and added the decision was made prior to being contacted about his position on this issue.

Rep. Virginia Foxx , R-5th, is a cosponsor of H.R. 346, which would repeal the law that provides automatic pay adjustments for members of Congress.

Coble is also a cosponsor of H.R. 201, which would prevent automatic pay raises for members of Congress in the year following a fiscal year in which there was a federal budget deficit.

S.B. 102 would repeal the law that provides automatic pay adjustments for members of Congress. Deputy Press Secretary David Ward said Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., has voted against automatic pay increases in the past and would do so again. Colleen Flanagan, a spokesperson for Sen. Kay Hagan, D-N.C., said Hagan is opposed to any automatic pay adjustments, given these economic times.

E-mail Barriers

In a disturbing trend, many lawmakers have switched to a zip code verification mechanism on their website to prevent Americans from contacting them via e-mail unless the individual is in that member’s district.

Because most lawmakers sit on as many as three to four committees that make decisions affecting all Americans, analysts are concerned the move discourages Americans from easily voicing either praise or protest.

One spokesperson, who declined to be identified, said legislators are doing this because of the large volume of mail and added that citizens can always call. However, many people work during the day and either don’t have time or are fearful of using a work phone to call legislators.

Six of North Carolina’s representatives and both senators can be contacted via e-mail. Those who can be emailed only by constituents in their districts are Reps. Etheridge, D-2nd; Kissell; Myrick; McHenry; Shuler; and Miller.

For more details on congressional salaries, trips, foreign gifts, and earmarks, including staff salaries and trips, see www.legistorm.com.

Karen McMahan is a contributor of Carolina Journal.