Speaker Nancy Pelosi reportedly released a new order on Friday upping the maximum rate that politicians may pay House employees to $212,100 per year, which is $38,000 more than what members of Congress earn currently.
The decision follows Pelosi’s instruction earlier this year, which raised the maximum salary for workers from $199,300 to $203,700.
Pelosi also imposed a $45,000 minimum compensation threshold for House workers at the time.
The action was considered as historic since there had been no formal House rules controlling employee compensation for decades.
Instead, House offices had previously been allowed to negotiate individual personnel salaries.
Pelosi, who is scheduled to leave the speaker’s gavel when the new Republican Congress takes office on Tuesday, said the measure will assist Congress retain excellent personnel who would otherwise be drawn to private-sector jobs.
The new wage ceiling allows top staffers to earn more than politicians who work for them. Legislators in both the House and Senate are paid $174,000 per year.
Pelosi stated that the compensation increase brings the maximum income attainable for house workers in line with President Biden’s administration.
According to a survey by the centrist advocacy organization Issue One, there was a substantial pay disparity between offices prior to the new minimum wage legislation.
The organization discovered that certain workplaces, particularly those controlled by progressive Democrats, had wide-ranging pay ranges, with interns earning up to $15 per hour. Meanwhile, some offices paid junior personnel less than $30,000 a year.
Overall, Issue One discovered that one out of every eight congressional offices did not pay wages commensurate with the cost of living in Washington, D.C.
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