Put Your Money Where Your Vote Is.

Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., is on a crusade to wipe out what he calls the "greatest single hypocrisy every year." The senator is fed up with lawmakers trying to revoke the annual pay raise for members of Congress and then ending up richer when their colleagues vote to save their cost-of-living-adjustment. "The hypocrisy comes in when all the press releases hit the home state and they talk about how great this is, saying they are great reformers and then, of course, it is defeated and they end up taking the increase anyway," Inhofe said in a statement, adding lawmakers "vote no and take the dough." The last time Congress rejected its automatic cost-of-living adjustment was 1998. Earlier this month, Inhofe decided to hit the self-described reformers in the pocketbook. He quietly succeeded in attaching by voice vote an amendment to the lobbying bill that would prohibit any lawmaker who voted against a pay raise from receiving the extra cash if the hike is enacted. The forfeited money would be returned to the U.S. Treasury to pay for veterans' medical services.

Inhofe's provision received scant media attention because his efforts were overshadowed by Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., who in a surprise attack offered an amendment to cancel a deal that would have put Dubai Ports World in control of six U.S. seaports. Schumer derailed the lobbying bill until he withdrew his amendment earlier this week, and senators passed the lobbying bill Wednesday with Inhofe's provision. "I love the Kennedys and the Rockefellers, but I don't think you should have to be a Kennedy or a Rockefeller to serve in this body," Inhofe said on the floor March 8, adding that worthy lawmakers such as former Sen. Dan Coats, R-Ind., have left Congress to make more money in the private sector. (It should be noted that Coats was helped along to the private sector by Democratic Sen. Evan Bayh, who was a popular governor and was going to challenge Coats until the incumbent decided not to run for re-election.)

Inhofe must now persuade his Senate and House colleagues to join his campaign against those unnamed congressional hypocrites when the two chambers meet to reconcile their different lobbying proposals. But they just might question Inhofe's credentials on the subject. Last October, Inhofe voted to freeze the FY06 pay raise. The senator explained Thursday that at the time, he agreed to a pay freeze because of the war in Iraq, increasing debt and two devastating hurricanes. "I normally don't do that," Inhofe said. The burden then fell on the House to remove the COLA freeze from a House-Senate conference report. Inhofe warned his colleagues that if they eliminate his language from a House-Senate conference report, it could prove politically awkward for them. "I'll be watching them," he said. Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., who managed the lobbying bill and is likely to serve as a conferee, said he "loves the idea, but I suspect it won't make it."

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By Greta Wodele