Who voted in all the decisions for pension and salary for senators and house members
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Executive summary
Congress — meaning the House and the Senate acting through legislation — is the actor that sets members’ pay and the rules for congressional pensions; the Constitution requires compensation be “ascertained by law,” and Congress has delegated mechanics for automatic adjustments while retaining the power to enact or block changes by statute [1] [2]. Pension eligibility and benefit formulas are governed by federal statutes implemented by the Office of Personnel Management and administered under FERS/CSRS rules, not by a separate “pension board” of members voting on their own benefits [3] [4].
1. Who legally decides congressional pay: Congress itself, via statutes and appropriations
The Constitution’s Compensation Clause gives Congress the authority to set pay for Senators and Representatives and bars pay changes from taking effect until after the next House election, a constraint reinforced by the 27th Amendment; consequently salary levels and any changes are enacted by congressional legislation rather than by an external body [1]. The practical work of setting pay and authorizing adjustments is carried out through statutes codified in Title 2 (for example rules tied to 2 U.S.C. §4501) and through legislative-branch provisions in appropriations or other bills that Congress passes [2] [5].
2. How annual adjustments get decided: an automatic formula — unless Congress votes to stop it
By statute an automatic cost‑of‑living or Employment Cost Index–based adjustment can trigger a member pay increase, but Congress routinely exercises its legislative power to prevent those automatic adjustments from taking effect by passing provisions in appropriations or other legislation that deny the increase; the record shows repeated years where Congress enacted measures to prevent scheduled increases [2] [6]. The Congressional Research Service documents that the mechanism exists to produce a projected percentage change but that “differences between the projected and actual Member pay adjustments resulted from the enactment of legislation preventing the increase,” and recent legislative language explicitly included provisions to prevent a January 2026 adjustment [6] [5].
3. Who votes: both chambers, through bills and amendments
Decisions to change pay or to block automatic increases flow through the ordinary legislative process: bills originate, are debated, amended and must pass both the House and Senate and then be signed (or otherwise enacted); therefore the “who voted” in any particular decision will be the Members of the House and Senate who cast yea or nay votes on the controlling bill or amendment that year (the CRS tracking of member votes and appropriations reports records these votes) [2] [6]. When legislative-branch appropriations include a provision denying an adjustment, it is the membership of each chamber that recorded the votes on those appropriations measures [2] [5].
4. Pensions are statutory and administratively implemented, not set by individual votes each year
Retirement benefits for Members are governed by federal pension statutes under CSRS and FERS; the benefit formulas (high‑three salary averages, service multipliers, eligibility thresholds) are written into law and are administered by agencies such as OPM and the Thrift Savings Plan rules rather than being re‑decided annually by Members voting on their own pensions [3] [4]. CRS and OPM rulemaking implement congressional statutes, and changes to pension law require new legislation — meaning any alteration would again be the result of House and Senate votes on a statutory change [3] [4].
5. Where to look for the record: CRS products, public roll calls and implementation orders
The Congressional Research Service produces authoritative tracking of salaries, votes, historical tables and legislative actions that identify which bills and roll calls produced particular changes or blocks to adjustments; detailed tables show each year’s projected versus actual adjustments and list when Congress enacted provisions to withhold increases [6] [2]. Administrative steps — such as orders setting staff pay ceilings — are recorded in Orders by the Speaker or President pro tempore and in the Federal Register when OPM issues implementing rules, providing the paper trail of who did what and when [7] [4].
6. Bottom line and limits of the reporting
The bottom line is that members of the House and Senate vote — through the normal legislative process — on the laws that set their salaries and the statutes that establish their pensions; automatic formulas exist but are subject to being overridden by those votes, and pension rules are statutory and administratively implemented rather than being determined by a separate pension vote body [1] [2] [3]. This account summarizes the legal and procedural framework reflected in the Congressional Research Service and official sources; if a reader seeks the precise roll‑call list for a single decision (for example, the specific votes on an appropriations rider that prevented a COLA in a given year), those votes are recorded in the public congressional record and the CRS “Salaries of Members” product cited above provides a year‑by‑year account [2] [6].