Outgoing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., issued a directive in her final day of controlling the speaker gavel on Friday, boosting the maximum pay rate for House staffers to $212,000.
The move might have raised some eyebrows, citing two disparate reasons:
- This marks the second time in 2022 that Pelosi has authorized a substantial pay bump for senior House staffers. The previous boost from May involved a max-salary increase from $199,300 to $203,700.
- The maximum rate of pay for an actual member of the House or Senate, regardless of party affiliation, is $174,000 — a salary that has remained static since 2009.
In other words, a senior boss within the prestigious U.S. House of Representatives could theoretically make less money than an underling.
According to Fox News, there are no official House rules governing staffer pay, within the minimum-maximum parameters. Consequently, House officers are free to negotiate staff pay on a case-by-case basis.
From Pelosi's perspective, the boost in employee pay will help guard against congressional leaders losing quality staffers, enterprising workers who might have otherwise been recruited by private-sector employers.
"As you know, our hardworking, patriotic congressional staffers are integral to the functioning of the House of Representatives," Pelosi wrote to lawmakers. "To that end, we must do all we can to retain and recruit the best talent in our nation — and to build a congressional workforce that reflects the communities we are honored to serve."
Also, Pelosi reasoned the new maximum pay rate aligns well with staffers within the Biden White House.
There was no mention of the higher salaries likely being a direct result of high inflation during President Joe Biden's tenure — with that national figure being at 7% or higher for every month of this calendar year, according to TradingEconomics.com.
In a recent study, Issue One, a centrist advocacy group, revealed that 1 out of 8 congressional offices were not paying wages commensurate to the exorbitant cost of living in Washington, D.C.
For that Issue One report, the group estimated that approximately 1,200 congressional staffers were drawing annual salaries of less than $42,610.
The minimum salary for an entry-level House staffer is $45,000, according to reports.
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