Members of Congress won a battle to increase their pay. The war will go on.

A preliminary court ruling supports a bipartisan group of current and former lawmakers seeking back pay for missed congressional salary increases. Plaintiffs argue congressional pay is too low to compete with private-sector opportunities for high-achieving Americans. A plaintiff, Rep. Steny Hoyer, said the ruling clarified that the prior actions were not constitutional. Congress has repeatedly denied automatic cost-of-living adjustments, including every year since 2009, despite long-term stagnation and large pay relative to median household income. Advocates note irony in Congress relying on another branch to address pay decisions it avoided. The case will continue because additional questions remain, including whether past COLA cancellations are void or only delayed, and whether members will see immediate paycheck increases.

"Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), one of the plaintiffs, said in a Thursday interview that the ruling made "clear that what we were doing is not constitutional." Congress has voted to deny itself an automatic cost-of-living adjustment over 20 times, including every year since 2009, as members flinch from the potential political backlash of voting themselves a raise. Even after nearly two decades of stagnation, House members make nearly $100,000 more than the median American household."

""There's some irony in the idea that maybe what's going to finally make this happen is Congress turning to an entire other branch of the government to do something that they themselves could choose to do, and in fact have decided not to," said Molly Reynolds, a Brookings Institute fellow who specializes in congressional matters. While the plaintiffs and advocates are celebrating the opinion, the litigation is set to continue for months, if not years."

"Bruggink said multiple questions still must be litigated that could dictate how much members might be owed, including whether the past COLA cancellations are entirely void or simply delayed in their effect. "I wouldn't expect members of Congress to see their next paycheck go up," said Daniel Schuman, executive director of the nonpartisan American Governance Institute. "What this court is dealing with is the lawsuit for back pay.""

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