(CNSNews.com) - A senior citizens' group notes that members of Congress will get an automatic $4,700 pay raise beginning in January, bringing their annual salaries to $174,000. The increase will cost taxpayers more than $2.5 million.
Based on salary alone, each lawmaker will rank in the top six percent of American households, The Senior Citizens League said.
"As lawmakers make a big show of forcing auto executives to accept just $1 a year in salary, they are quietly raiding the vault for their own personal gain," said Daniel O'Connell, chairman of The Senior Citizens League. "This money would be much better spent helping the millions of seniors who are living below the poverty line and struggling to keep their heat on this winter."
The Senior Citizens League says seniors receiving average Social Security benefits will get a $63 monthly increase -- to just $1,153 a month -- next year, bringing their annual total to $13,836.
The league says an estimated 12 percent of all seniors are living at or below the poverty line, and one-third of all beneficiaries depend on Social Security for 90 percent or more of their income.
Although three bills to halt the congressional pay raise have been introduced, the leading bill has only 34 co-sponsors, far short of the 218 votes needed for passage. Of those 34 co-sponsors, eight are Republicans, 26 are Democrats.
The Senior Citizens League is urging its members to contact their lawmakers and ask them to support legislation halting the congressional pay raise. Such a bill has virtually no chance of passing this year, however.
“Given the precarious economic climate, it’s particularly troubling that lawmakers are failing to set an example by sacrificing their own unnecessary raises,” said Shannon Benton, executive director of TSCL.
The Senior Citizens League says it consists of “vocally active senior citizens concerned about the protection of their Social Security, Medicare, and veteran or military retiree benefits.” It is affiliated with The Retired Enlisted Association.