Give A Little, Get a Little

For a show that had flopped in its last tryout, The Pay-Raise Follies enjoyed a remarkably rapid revival. There was House Speaker Tom Foley last week, a bipartisan cast gathered around him, calling earnestly for more money. Here again came consumer advocate Ralph Nader, stirring up rabid radio talk-show hosts to bash Capitol Hill for insatiable greed. George Bush, once more standing in the wings, sent his best wishes.

But the House members had learned from their pay-hike fiasco of last January, when they were seeking a raise from $89,500 to $135,000. This time they voted for a smaller increase in two stages: to $96,600 next year (when they must stand for election), then to nearly $125,000 by 1991. More important, they offered a swap: they would take the pay raise in exchange for passing a much needed package of reforms, including the gradual elimination of outside income. Even though the Senate refused to go along, Congressmen can argue that taxpayers will be getting something for the extra money they will be paying their legislators.

Credit for the smoother performance goes to Foley and Minority Leader Robert Michel. Last winter Foley watched former Speaker Jim Wright fumble painfully as he tried to sneak a raise through the House without a vote. Wright's clumsiness on the issue helped push him from power in May. Foley took office promising his rank and file he would bring the pay raise to the House floor again this year. But he was determined to do things differently.

Foley and Michel began by appointing a bipartisan task force to craft an ethics package that would combine the salary increase with real reform. With the raise stalled as a hoped-for Thanksgiving adjournment approached, Foley and Michel closed ranks again. They limited partisan bickering and promised not to use the pay hike as a campaign issue next year. On Thursday they won a hasty 252-174 vote in favor of the increase. After the victory, task force chairman Vic Fazio of California declared, "We have decided to reinvest in this institution and take the responsibility for its future."

Along with senior Government officials and judges, House members will receive a 7.9% salary increase in 1990 and a 25% hike in 1991. Tacked onto the raise was a ban on outside speaking fees or honorariums, which enable House members to boost their salaries by as much as $26,850 a year by giving pep talks to lobbyists and industry groups.

Lawmakers who retire after 1993 will also be forbidden to transfer campaign contributions into personal funds; such transfers can total hundreds of thousands of dollars. Congressmen will not be allowed to accept gifts worth more than $200, and where some members now spend several weeks or more on expenses-paid voyages around the globe, their paid junkets will be limited to four days in the U.S. and seven overseas. It was the most extensive revision of ethics rules in more than a decade.