Did You Get a Pay Raise This Year?

Congress gets one. Although Tom DeLay doesn't want you to call it that.

From the Associated Press:

The House on Tuesday agreed to a $3,100 pay raise for Congress next year — to $165,200 — after defeating an effort to roll it back.

In a 263-152 vote, the House blocked a bid by Rep. Jim Matheson (news, bio, voting record), D-Utah, to force an up-or-down vote on the pay raise. Instead, lawmakers will automatically receive the raise — officially a cost of living adjustment — as provided for in a 1989 law that barred them from pocketing big speaking fees in exchange for an annual COLA.

[snip]

Republican leaders — who succumbed to pressure to block the COLA for three of the first four years their party controlled Congress — now are strong advocates of it. The last time it was rejected was in 1998.

"It's not a pay raise," said House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas. "It's an adjustment so that they're not losing their purchasing power."

So do you get an adjustment to keep you from losing your purchasing power? Remember DeLay's words should you find yourself in the unemployment line.