G. Compensation

Members of Congress are paid equal to the 90^th percentile of individual income from the most recent decennial census.

Allowing Congress to set its pay represents a conflict of interest. The Twenty-seventh Amendment tries to solve this.[1] Unfortunately, deferring the start of that pay to the next session of Congress doesn’t resolve this conflict. That’s because many of the same members will be serving a subsequent term in the new Congress. Two-thirds of the Senate will still be serving the same term!

Since there is no other lawmaking authority in the United States, the only way to avoid this conflict of interest is to encode congressional pay in the Charter. But how do we make sure it doesn’t dwindle and become inappropriately low over time? Congress shouldn’t be a pathway to riches. Still, serving in Congress is an important role. Members deserve pay that reflects that.

This subsection solves the problem, while ensuring a pinch on congressional wallets for inflation. Pay is set evenly for Representatives and Senators alike. By setting it at the 90^th percentile of individual income, we accomplish two things. First, that level is a very high income, but not one that can make the member independently wealthy. Second, by tying it to the decennial census, members’ pay dwindles over the decade, when you adjust for inflation. It gets reset after each census, but in the ninth year, congressional pay is much lower in real terms than it was in the first year. While not the same a the squeeze most Americans feel from inflation, there is at least some pinch that brings home the pain of inflationary pressure.

---

[1] U.S. Const. amend XXVII. “No law, varying the compensation for the services of the Senators and Representatives, shall take effect, until an election of Representatives shall have intervened.”