March 17, 2009

Washington, DC -- Nevada Senator Harry Reid made the following statement today on the floor of the U.S. Senate before the Senate passed by unanimous consent Sen. Feingold’s legislation to permanently end the automatic cost-of-living adjustment for Members of Congress.  Below are his remarks as prepared for delivery:

“The recently passed omnibus appropriations bill completed unfinished business from the Bush Administration and funded the government to provide critically needed services for the American people.  The omnibus bill that was signed into law last week also eliminated the Congressional cost of living adjustment for 2010. 

“During debate on that bill, I sought the consent of this body to take up and pass free-standing legislation to permanently end the automatic cost of living adjustment, and instead require Members of Congress to vote for or against all future adjustments.

“Especially in this hour of economic crisis, the overwhelming majority of Democrats and Republicans would agree that we should end this practice of automatic adjustments.  Senator Feingold has championed this cause for years, and I applaud him for his leadership.

“Regrettably, the junior Senator from Louisiana not only chose to vote against the omnibus bill, which froze the cost of living adjustment for 2010, but also chose to stand in the way of my efforts to have the Senate consider and ultimately pass a permanent end to the automatic adjustment.

“The overwhelming bipartisan majority of Senators are undeterred by this obstruction.  Passing this legislation to permanently end the automatic cost of living adjustment for Members is the right thing to do. Absent any further objections, we can do so now.”