DeLay: Lawmakers, Not Ordinary Workers, Need a Raise

House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R) today defended the fact that he helped orchestrate a raise for himself and other Members of Congress. He said lawmakers needed a $3,100 raise to make their pay $165,200 a year. "It's not a pay raise," DeLay said. "It's an adjustment so that they're not losing their purchasing power." Funny, in blocking every serious piece of minimum wage legislation, DeLay hasn't felt that his rationale abour raises applies to ordinary workers, even though minimum wage is nearing a 50-year low in terms of purchasing power.