Two provisions that directly impact lawmakers were quietly added to the CR: a pay raise and an Obamacare opt-out.

Pay raises. It’s complicated, but Congress has proactively blocked lawmakers from getting a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) since 2009. This was done by including language in spending bills specifically preventing such pay increases, although other federal employees get them.

However, the new CR includes a provision (page 15) that amends language in a previous CR that incorporated a provision from an earlier omnibus blocking any member COLA. Yes, that’s how it was done. Nothing as simple as “Members and senators will get a pay raise.”

Our friend Jack Fitzpatrick at Bloomberg Government first reported this.

Now, a lot of lawmakers have been pushing for a pay raise for years, arguing the longstanding freeze has discouraged people from running for office. Congress did create a program in 2022 allowing members to get reimbursed for lodging and meal expenses while conducting official business in D.C.

As we noted, there hasn’t been a pay increase since 2009. The annual salary for members is $174,000. That is a lot of money to average Americans — or anyone — but it’s expensive to serve in Congress too.

There’s also the argument that if members and senators don’t get paid fairly, then only rich people will run for Congress.

Here’s a good CRS report on this long-running issue. It notes that if members of Congress were getting raises also this time, their 2024 salary would be $243,300.

But the optics of Congress, an already unpopular institution, giving itself a pay bump has long been seen as politically toxic. So expect this to get a lot of attention today, particularly from conservatives already furious over the CR.

Obamacare. Also tucked into the CR is a provision allowing lawmakers to opt out of Obamacare and instead use the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program. Under the Affordable Care Act, lawmakers and some designated staff are required to use an Obamacare exchange instead of the FEHBP. A couple of Republicans have been trying to overturn this for years to no avail.

We’re told some key Democrats were unaware of this language until after the final CR text was released Tuesday evening. The provision wasn’t in an earlier draft of the health title of the CR that was circulating.