Herrera Beutler calls for 10 percent pay cuts for federal officials

U.S. Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Camas, will introduce a bill next week that would cut the salaries of the president, the vice president and members of Congress by 10 percent.

Called the “Savings Start With Us Act,” the measure would be a largely symbolic effort to reduce the federal deficit. If enacted this year, it would save the nation about $9.4 million annually.

“I know a 10 percent cut in our salaries won’t make a big dent on our deficit,” Herrera Beutler said in a statement. “But we’ve already voted to remove billions from the budget without cutting one dime from our own paychecks. That’s not fair.”

Rank-and-file members of Congress in both the House and Senate are paid an annual salary of $174,000, an amount that hasn’t increased since 2009. Members of the leadership in both chambers are paid $193,400. The speaker of the House gets even more.

Vice President Joe Biden receives a salary of $227,300, so he would feel a $22,700 bite under the bill. A 10 percent pay cut would cost President Barack Obama $40,000. The office of the president hasn’t had a pay raise in a decade, though the last pay hike doubled the salary of the nation’s chief executive from $200,000 to $400,000.

Herrera Beutler is not the only member of Congress to propose pay cuts or pay freezes for members of Congress. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., is co-sponsoring a bill to repeal automatic pay raises for lawmakers, and others have proposed reducing paychecks by 5 or 10 percent.