Name any topic that comes to mind, and chances are very likely that House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., and United States Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., are on extremely opposite sides.
But now McCarthy looks to agree with AOC that members of Congress deserve a pay raise. Without a salary increament, McCarthy says, only millionaires will be able to serve.
The top Republican in the House made the comments this week as lawmakers scrapped the bill over the possible backlash from increasing salaries for themselves and their staffs.
“When you talk this subject about COLA, a cost-of-living increase, it does invoke an emotion, kind of an impulsive emotion,” McCarthy told reporters, according to the Washington Examiner.
“I think it’s one that we should pause and look at. It’s been more than 10 years in the process. The current study says that pay has decreased by 15 percent. I do not want Congress at the end of the day to only be a place that millionaires serve. This should be a body of the people.”
Members of Congress generally make $174,000 per year, with senior leaders earning more, and no cost-of-living adjustments have been made in the past nine years.
Last month, some vulnerable swing-state Democrats, concerned how the proposed $4,500 pay hike would look if it didn’t also have Republican support, had signed onto amendments rejecting a similar measure to increase their pay.