Pay Raise For Judges Tucked Into Auto Bailout Plan

WASHINGTON — If the $14 billion bailout plan for U.S. automakers passes, it will help more than just Ford, Chrysler and General Motors. Federal judges would get a pay raise, as well.

The raise _ an annual cost of living adjustment, or COLA _ would bring U.S. District court judges up to par with members of Congress, who will receive an almost $5,000 boost on Jan. 1. District judges and lawmakers now earn $169,300 a year but are expected to be awarded a 2.8 percent raise next year, said Dick Carelli, a spokesman for the Administrative Office of the United States Courts.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., insisted that the judicial pay raise go into the automaker loan measure, which is the only item of business on Congress' lame-duck agenda.

Under ethics legislation enacted almost two decades ago, members of Congress get a cost of living raise automatically, but they have to vote to give judges an identical raise. Because the spending bill covering U.S. courts has not passed, the step is necessary if judges are going to get their COLA.

The Senate passed the judicial pay measure as a separate bill in November, but the House never acted. A House Democratic leadership aide said that while House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., supports the pay raise, it was difficult for the House to hold a stand-alone vote in the midst of a recession to increase the pay for people making far more than most workers.

As a result, Reid has taken the unusual step of linking the obscure but important judicial pay issue to the unpopular auto bailout.

There is concern among many policymakers that judges are not paid enough relative to the importance of their offices, and in six of the past 13 years, judges have been denied their pay raise as lawmakers opted not to take their own COLA.

Even with the raise, judges earn far less than lawyers at big firms, just as members of Congress make less than many lobbyists.

If the pay measure fails to go through this year, judges are likely to get the increase as one of the first pieces of business next year.

Comments

[GreenerPastures]

This story is being suppressed. The mainstream media is not only not reporting it, but erasing it. I posted twice yesterday on Jack Cafferty's blog on CNN, and both of my posts were moderated (removed.)
I found this article just now, by the same reporter above:
http://www.newsvine.com/_news/2008/12/10/2198956-democrats-to-scuttle-pay-raise-for-judges?threadId=440574&commentId=4405371#c4405371
While I am FOR the bailout/loan, I am NOT for a pay raise for any government employees right now, and the inclusion of this payraise into the bailout was/is an outrage. The subsequent failure of the bailout is also and outrage, and I am reading bits and pieces that southern repub senators with foreign auto plants in their state have scuttled it, or that this thwart was planned by repubs so that Bush can come riding in on a white horse to the rescue in an attempt to shine up his image.

[ploopy]

hey, you know hill's takin' a pay cut. so's she can be a legal sec of state. and she's got all those campignin debts of hers to pay too. what a shame. guess ya gotta pay for a position... DUH and a tip of the hat to the guv of ill... xoxoxo

[Cathy22]

See, this is just dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb, DUMB!!!!!!!! First of all: Why are raises for judges connected with a bailout plan for the automobile industry?? This whole thing of sneaking in and attaching irrelevant things to measures is just the stupidest thing we have going on in the legislature. Second: How can these judges or any of the people in the House, Senate or any government office look us OUT OF WORK Americans in the eye and say they need a raise because $169,300.00 is not enough. They must be insane!!!!! The GREED of these people in our government is ruining America. They should be ashamed of themselves for even thinking for a second this is okay and they should all resign from office. There are a lot of unemployed, intelligent, ungreedy people that can take their place.

[redneckliberalpostbush]

these slimey lawyers giving themselves raises aaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrggggggggggggggg!!!!

[moonwatcher]

I believe our senators and congressman shouldn't get their cost of living raise and neither should the judges. If we are going to have millions of people out of job and wondering where they are going to find shelter, than why should they get a raise? Apparently, these people have no empathy for working people who lose their jobs. We can also get cut backs in defense projects. That tanker that the air force claim they need; that senators from Alabama are talking about on their web site. Forget it. If it is going to be built , it shouldn't be built in Alabama or where any of these senators who opposing the bail out are from. Let them eat cake.

[redneckliberalpostbush]

agree moon SOBS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[FortuneTeller]

NO PAY RAISES....They are LUCKY to have a job!!!

[Emlyn]

I agree.

[Keith52]

WHAT? NO PAY RAISES FOR ANYONE!!! PERIOD! Not for at least 5 years.

[GreenerPastures]

I posted a comment about this pay raise for judges on Cafferty's File at the CNN website, and it was "moderated," as in removed. Maybe because I mentioned Harry Reid by name and how Reid's personnel were defensive when I called them to complain about this pay raise? So sorry these judges haven't had a pay raise in 6 years, but my household has not had a pay raise in EIGHT years, and our household income is less than a THIRD of the current $160,000+ per year made by these judges. Any raises for government employees in this economy is a CRIME!

[amyeom]

I'm so sick of this bullshit

[Jay1960]

Since our government is incapable of governing, why do I have to pay taxes any longer? It seems I should only have to pay for things I receive. No governing from the government suggests I do not have to pay for it. I thought change was coming. I think the only change that will come is a new realization that the Democrats and Republicans need to go before this country can move forward. Where is Fighting Bob La Follette and the Progressive Party when you need them??

[TheBlackCat]

Just a little off topic but friendly reminder guys...

...I know times are tough, and Christmas gifts can be found cheap online...

but your local businesses need your money now more than ever.

Whenever possible, shop locally, not online. It may mean you can get fewer gifts for your family, but it will mean a lot for your community.

[FreedomAgain]

I say Congress, Senators, and Judges wages should not go up unless the Average middle-class workers income goes up. It should be tied to the Average middle-class American's increases. That would get them thinking about how to improve the country.

[imusintheevening]

At $14 Billion, the bailout equals 500,000 autos at $28,000 per car.

Here are some interesting statistics (source: wardsuto.com):

November November % Share Vol.
2008 2007 Current Year-Ago % Chg.

Chrysler 117,123 221,358 13.4 16.6 -47.1
Ford 133,488 229,778 15.3 17.3 -41.9
GM 240,283 344,720 27.5 25.9 -30.3
Big 3 Total 490,894 795,856 56.2 59.8 -38.3
AutoAlliance 11,709 15,536 1.3 1.2 -24.6
BMW 11,163 11,571 1.3 0.9 -3.5
CAMI 2,867 20,196 0.3 1.5 -85.8
Honda 103,744 128,364 11.9 9.7 -19.2
Hyundai 11,000 16,490 1.3 1.2 -33.3
Mercedes 10,983 14,278 1.3 1.1 -23.1
Mitsubishi 3,281 5,099 0.4 0.4 -35.7
Nissan 70,848 108,146 8.1 8.1 -34.5
NUMMI 21,329 32,618 2.4 2.5 -34.6
Subaru 12,657 17,542 1.4 1.3 -27.8
Toyota 66,223 103,815 7.6 7.8 -36.2
Volkswagen 37,594 40,289 4.3 3.0 -6.7
Others 19,504 20,286 2.2 1.5 -3.9
Total 873,796 1,330,086 100.0 100.0 -34.3

[imusintheevening]

sorry about the lack of format, huffpo is too busy censoring comments to figure out how to maintain common formats in comments.

[11907281]

Cont <

"Good, honest, hard-working people (white collar or blue collar, it doesn't matter) continue to elect these rich c**ksuckers and they don't give a f**k about us. They don't give a f**k about you, they don't care about you at all! At all! Nobody seems to notice and nobody seems to care and that's what the owner's count on. They count on us remaining willfully ignorant because the owners know the truth. It's called the American dream because you have to be asleep to believe it." - St. George Carlin."

[Antifascist-08]

GREAT QUOTE!!!!

source?

[11907281]

St. George Carlin, ..... I gave him sainthood since I was raised a catholic. I figured since I never buggered little boys, god won't mind.

[11907281]

Cont <
They don't want a population of citizens capable of critical thinking, they don't want well-informed and well-educated people. They don't want that, that's against their interest. They don't want people who are smart enough to sit around a kitchen table and figure out how badly they're getting f**ked by a system that threw them overboard thirty f**king years ago. Social Security and the Federal Reserve are hopeless for my generation now. They want obedient workers, the people who are just smart enough to run the machines and do the paperwork and just dumb enough to passively accept all of these increasingly s***tier jobs with lower pay and longer hours to reduce benefits and end overtime and the vanishing pension that disappears the minute you go to collect it. Now they're coming for your Social Security money, they want your retirement money, and they want it back so they can give it to their criminal friends on Wall Street. They'll get it all from you sooner or later because they own this f**king place. It's a big club and we're not in it. By the way, it's the same big club they use to beat you over the head with all day long when they tell you what to believe, what to think, and what to buy. The table is tilted. The game is rigged and nobody seems to notice, nobody seems to care.

[11907281]

Freedom is an illusion. As the late St. Carlin said
"There's a reason for our high illiteracy rates in America and there's a reason why it will never, ever get better. It's never going to get fixed, don't be on the look out for change. Be happy with what you have right now because the owners of this country don't want to you get an education. They don't want you to better yourself. I'm speaking of the real owners now, the wealthy. I'm speaking of the big, wealthy businessmen that sit behind their desks and they make all of the decisions. Forget about the politicians, they're irrelevant. The politicians are put there to make you think that you have the ability to choose who gets elected. It's usually the ones with bigger pocket change that wind up winning anyway. We have no freedom of choice, we have owners. They own us. They own everything. They own all of the important land, they own corporations, they've bought the Senate, the Congress, the State houses, the City halls, and they have the judges in their back pockets and they have the media as well. They control all the news and information that you get to hear. They have you by the balls. They spend billions of dollars a year lobbying to get what they want, they don't care about us. We know what they want...they want more for themselves and less for us. It's that simple." .. Cont >