Bush Signs Executive Order on Pay Raises

WASHINGTON - President Bush signed an executive order Thursday to raise the pay of federal workers, members of Congress and Vice President Dick Cheney in the new year. Congress passed the pay raises earlier this year, but Bush was required to sign an executive order to enforce them.

The president's annual salary of $400,000 is not affected by the legislation.

Civil servants, on average, will get a 2.2 percent pay increase in January. So will uniformed members of the military.

Members of Congress, the vice president and most senior federal officials will get a 1.7 percent pay increase, as will federal administrative law judges.

Congress opted to put off its pay increases until Feb. 16, not Jan. 1, on the urging of the incoming Democratic leaders in the House and Senate. They say no pay raise should kick in until Congress approves an increase in the federal minimum wage, which has been stuck at $5.15 an hour for the past 10 years.

Currently, rank-and-file members of Congress get $165,200. Yeah and how many days did they work this years

Rolling Stone : COVER STORY: Time to Go! Inside the Worst Congress ...

And even those numbers don't come close to telling the full story. ...

Figuring for half-days, in fact, the 109th Congress probably worked almost two months ...