Opponents of a congressional cost-of-living pay increase are vowing to try to defeat a rule on the Commerce-Justice-State funding measure today, after the House Rules Committee refused Tuesday to allow an amendment to cancel the pay raise to be offered.
And following the Rules Committee meeting, Chairman Solomon went even further, saying that the anti-pay increase amendment will not be made in order on any bill, since it was not offered during debate on the Treasury-Postal funding bill.
The Commerce-Justice-State bill also faces debate on several issues, including a census sampling issue.
In a related development, Solomon announced that the Rules Committee will meet Friday to consider a continuing resolution that would keep the government operating past the end of the fiscal year, even though appropriations bills have not been completed.
Opponents of the pay increase, led by Rep. Linda Smith, R- Wash., had wanted the Rules panel to issue a waiver for their amendment, since it normally would not be made in order because the bill does not deal with the issue.
But the Rules Committee did not even debate the issue Tuesday night. Following the meeting, Solomon said the pay issue "will not be considered on any bills, including authorizations."
He said he understands that Smith and others may attempt to offer the proposal on non-appropriations bills. "Those would be considered frivolous amendments and members should not be offering frivolous amendments," he said.
A Smith aide said pay increase opponents were not surprised by the Rules decisions.
"They weren't relying on the Rules Committee," the aide said. He added that Smith and others will try to defeat the rule. "The representatives are not going to be able to hide behind procedural maneuvers," the aide said.
He would not rule out offering the amendment on other bills or forcing procedural votes to bring the issue to the floor.
"Anything on the horizon is considered fair game," he said.
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