Pelosi Says House Will Raise Maximum Pay for Capitol Hill Aides

Politics|Pelosi says the House volition rise the maximum yearly wage complaint for Capitol Hill aides.

• Aug. 12, 2021, 4:29 p.m. ET

Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced connected Thursday that the House would rise the maximum yearly wage complaint for Capitol Hill aides, successful a long-awaited determination intended to assistance enlistee and clasp legislature staffers.

In a missive to lawmakers, Ms. Pelosi said that House aides could present gain up to $199,300 successful an effort to enactment up “the outstanding and divers endowment that we need.” The alteration marks the archetypal clip that a legislature adjutant tin person a wage greater than a lawmaker: An mean subordinate of Congress receives an yearly wage of $174,000.

“A cardinal precedence for strengthening the Congress truthful that it tin champion service the American radical is ensuring that our offices and committees person entree to the champion endowment successful America,” Ms. Pelosi said.

Importantly, if the alteration is not accompanied by an attendant summation successful the budgets legislature offices and committees are fixed each twelvemonth to wage their aides, immoderate increases to elder unit salaries could yet whittle down the salaries of much inferior aides.

But lawmakers connected Capitol Hill, who person agelong argued that legislature aides should beryllium paid incomes much commensurate with private-sector jobs successful bid to enlistee the champion and astir divers talent, hailed the determination arsenic a important measurement successful the close direction.

“Empowering legislature unit done accrued wage and improved benefits volition let our assemblage to amended service the American radical with divers and talented employees,” said Representative Steny Hoyer of Maryland, the No. 2 Democrat, who agitated for the alteration successful argumentation for years.

Senate aides person besides been taxable to the aforesaid wage headdress arsenic their House counterparts, but are unaffected by Ms. Pelosi’s announcement. Much of the nationalist statement implicit the contented has been concentrated successful the House, alternatively than the Senate.