No, Congress didn’t vote to give itself a 21% pay raise

A misleading headline from a partisan website spurred false viral claims that Congress voted to give itself a 21% raise. But that’s not true. Let’s take a look at the facts.

Congress did not vote to give itself a 21% raise.

The spending bill signed by President Joe Biden on March 15 included a 21% increase to the Members’ Representational Allowance (MRA), which funds the legislative office budgets — but not the salaries — of members of Congress.

As The Associated Press reported, “Annual salaries for members of the House and Senate will remain the same this year, as they have since 2009.”

NewsLit takeaway

Complex pieces of legislation contain details that can easily be misrepresented and used to stir outrage by tapping into widespread concerns about government waste and corruption. In this case, a highly misleading headline published by the far-right website FrontPage Magazine sparked angry reactions and viral sharing across social media and was picked up by other conservative publications.

Featured Fact-Checks

“Did Congress ‘Give Itself a 21% Raise’ in 2022?” (Dan MacGuill, Snopes).
“Congress members didn’t boost own salaries in March 2022” (Ali Swenson, The Associated Press).
“Spending Bill Includes Pay Raise for Staffers, Not Members of Congress” (Brea Jones, FactCheck.org).