Fact check: Social media post gets it wrong on congressional pay

Devon Link | Paste BN

The claim: The 'Founding Fathers' wanted Congress to be paid per diem to prevent greed and corruption

As decade-old claims about the fictitious “Congressional Reform Act” resurface on social media, misinformation about congressional corruption is trending.

A Facebook post on April 16 describes how congressional pay practices have strayed from the Founding Fathers' vision.

“The Founding Fathers only paid the senators and representatives a 'per diem' amount when in session,” the post says. “(The) Founding Fathers knew if Congress were ever to be paid salaries (which they could vote to increase themselves), then Congress would no longer be 'of the people' but rather 'above the people.' They wanted those in Congress to be subject to the same economic and financial conditions as the rest of the nation based upon the laws they passed.”

Fact-checking website Snopes debunked the claim in August 2019.

The Constitution dictates that members of Congress should receive some form of compensation. Although the first Congress was paid per diem, the Constitution did not stipulate whether this compensation should be per diem, meaning “by the day” in Latin, salaried or otherwise.

“The Senators and Representatives shall receive a Compensation for their Services, to be ascertained by Law, and paid out of the Treasury of the United States,” Article I, Section 6 of the Constitution says.

Snopes said the public found the original $6 per diem pay extravagant. Most members of the first Congress had other occupations and weren’t consistently in attendance during the few months Congress met, so per diem pay made sense.

The assertion that the "Founding Fathers" made this decision to prevent greed and corruption is inaccurate speculation. The term “of the people” was coined by President Abraham Lincoln in his Gettysburg Address in 1863 – not by the framers of the Constitution in 1787.

The first Congress was concerned about controlling lawmakers' ability to increase their own pay, but that concern was not specific to salaried pay.

Lawmakers proposed an amendment to prevent Congress from increasing its own compensation, but the amendment was not ratified by the states at the time. It wasn’t until 1992 that Congress adopted the 27th Amendment: “No law, varying the compensation for the services of the Senators and Representatives, shall take effect, until an election of Representatives shall have intervened.”

Congressional pay has changed throughout history

The first members of the House and Senate were paid $6 per day, which translates to roughly $176 today. Members of Congress received $6-$8 per diem until 1855, with one brief exception.

In March 1816, Congress controversially voted to move to an annual $1,500 salary. Supporters argued salaried pay would prevent Congress from dragging out sessions to maximize daily earnings.

The new salary surpassed $6 per diem earnings, which had amounted to roughly $900 per year for regularly attending members. In response to public outrage, Congress reinstated the $6 per diem, and many members were voted out in the next election.

“Nearly four decades would pass, until 1855, before senators and representatives finally received an annual salary,” the Senate website says. “What did they get? $3,000 – roughly equivalent to the salary of a good government clerk.”

Congressional pay has remained salaried and gradually increased since then.

What Congress members are paid

Most senators and representatives receive a $174,000 annual salary. The speaker of the House earns $223,500 per year, and the majority and minority leaders receive a salary of $193,400.

These salaries have not changed since 2009.

The “Congressional Salaries and Allowances: In Brief (2018)” addresses many points of confusion that have historically surrounded congressional pay:

“Members of Congress receive salaries only during the terms for which they are elected. They do not receive salaries beyond their terms of office. Members of Congress do not receive additional compensation for service on committees, and they are not eligible for housing or per diem allowances for expenses incurred in Washington, DC. Finally, neither Members of Congress nor their families are exempt from the repayment of student loans.”

Our ruling: False

We rate the claim that the "Founding Fathers" encouraged per diem congressional pay to prevent corruption FALSE because it is not supported by our research. Although the first Congress was paid per diem, the Constitution does not stipulate how members of Congress should be compensated.

Our fact-check sources:

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