In March, a lawsuit was filed alleging federal lawmaker’s wages had been unconstitutionally adjusted when Congress opted out of annual cost-of-living increases provided for under the law.
According to a report from Politico, Arkansas U.S. Representative Rick Crawford, who represents District 1, is the only active member of Congress on the complaint. Three former congressmen, Illinois Republican Rodney Davis, Virginia Republican Thomas M. Davis and Democrat Ed Perlmutter, joined in the lawsuit and now work for government relations or lobbying firms spotted on Capitol Hill often.
The class action lawsuit alleges they are “suffering the unconstitutional suppression of their member pay, and the former Members continue to suffer the unconstitutional reduction of the retirement pay due them by law.” Each plaintiff alleges in the lawsuit they were “unconstitutionally underpaid” by $563,800 for Rodney Davis, $268,839 for Tom Davis, $753,300 for Perlmutter and an undetermined amount for Crawford since he is still serving.
The 27th Amendment blocks officials from “varying the compensation for the services of the Senators and Representatives” between elections. Since 2009, salaries have stayed frozen at $174,000 per year, and attempts to reinstate cost-of-living increases have been unsuccessful in recent years.
The class action nature of the filing means that nearly 1,800 current and former members who have served since Jan. 1, 1994, could be eligible to join the suit. Ken Cuccinelli, former Virginia Attorney General and acting deputy homeland security secretary during the Trump administration, represents the lawmakers.
Last Friday, a judge ruled that lawmakers could move forward with the lawsuit after the Justice Department had sought to dismiss. U.S. Court of Federal Claims Judge Eric G. Bruggink ruled the court has jurisdiction to consider claims that the plaintiffs should receive reimbursement for the unpaid cost-of-living adjustments but said they could not litigate pay claims taking place before March 2018.
Judge Bruggink dismissed two other claims related to retirement benefits and argued that the plaintiffs were not credited with the right contributions under the Federal Employees Retirement System. He wrote in his ruling that an “unsympathetic observer might note that this predicament is of Congress’ own making.”
The Justice Department wrote in its motion to dismiss, that the plaintiffs are asking the court to put aside “decades worth of decisions by Congress about what level of pay it should receive.” Judge Bruggink said in his ruling, “As the defendant points out, virtually all of the named plaintiffs have voted to cancel some or all of those annual pay raises. Nevertheless, the government has not argued that plaintiffs have waived their right to claim entitlement for those COLAs.”
Crawford faces two challengers for the Arkansas 1st Congressional District seat in November, including Democrat Rodney Govens of Cabot and Libertarian Steve Parsons of Lakeview. Crawford is seeking his eighth term.
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