House GOP: No budget, no pay

The House leadership next week will introduce legislation that will authorize a three-month temporary debt limit increase that includes a provision withholding pay for lawmakers if Congress fails to pass a budget during that time.

“If the Senate or House fails to pass a budget in that time, members of Congress will not be paid by the American people for failing to do their job. No budget, no pay,” said House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., in a statement.

The temporary authorization to increase the debt limit for three months is designed to give the House and Senate time to pass a budget, Cantor said. “We must pass our bills and responsibly budget for our future.”

The House next Wednesday will vote on a bill introduced earlier this week that would extend the pay freeze for the federal workforce through 2013. President Obama issued an executive order in late December that would give feds a 0.5 percent pay boost when the current continuing resolution expires on March 27.

Congress voted to freeze its own pay through 2013 in the fiscal cliff deal that Obama signed into law a few weeks ago.

Also earlier this week, Rep. Randy Forbes, R-Va., reintroduced legislation that would tie lawmakers’ salaries to the growth in government spending, reducing their pay in proportion to the percent increase in spending between the previous two fiscal years. For example, if government spending increases by 7 percent from one fiscal year to the next, then members’ salaries would decrease by 7 percent the following calendar year.