Judiciary
Auto Bailout Bill, Passed by House, Includes $5K Hike for Judges
Posted Dec 11, 2008 6:02 AM CST
By Debra Cassens Weiss
A $14 billion bailout bill passed by the House on Wednesday evening would benefit judges as well as the auto industry.
The bill includes a cost of living hike for judges of almost $5,000, the Associated Press reports. Trial judges now earn $169,300. The bill would raise their pay to the same level as lawmakers, who got an automatic pay adjustment.
In six of the last 13 years, judges did not get an annual cost of living adjustment, the AP story says. A separate bill to raise judges’ pay passed the Senate this year, but the House never acted.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., insisted that the judge COLA go into the bailout bill, according to the story.
Judges shouldn’t start celebrating yet, though. The New York Times reports that the bailout bill remains on shaky ground because it has not garnered enough support among Republicans in the Senate. Some senators said the auto giants should be allowed to fail, while others wanted stronger oversight.
Hat tip to the Wall Street Journal Law Blog.
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Comments
B. McLeod
Dec 11, 2008 9:07 AM CST
Now if they could only figure out a way to split off the judges’ pay raise and pass only that part of the bill, that would be great.
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lawyers are underapid
Dec 11, 2008 10:07 AM CST
Lawyers need a cost of living increase too. 2,500 hours for $165,000 is not enough money. Add some on for us.
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whiners are not winners
Dec 11, 2008 3:08 PM CST
Seriously, “lawyers are underapid?” [sic] I really, truly hope you are joking. If not, well, you have some skewed sense of entitlement. Judging by your comment you are almost certainly an associate, which means you work 2,500 hours precisely BECAUSE you make $165,000. How on earth do you think your firm can justify paying you such a high salary if not by demanding you churn out enough billables to make an even higher profit?
At any rate, good that the judges are (hopefully) getting a COLA. Hopefully some version of the bailout bill will get passed, with substantial oversight provisions, of course. The Big 3 sure need to shape up, but their crash and burn would be detrimental to our already ailing economy…
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B. McLeod
Dec 11, 2008 4:47 PM CST
Like so many of the enterprises the feds have bailed out, failing auto plants should be allowed to fail. Then, in the course of the bankruptcy, somebody new will buy the assets, hire the workers, and set up an operation that perhaps will prove viable. As long as we just continue the bailouts, we are just pouring money down ratholes controlled by the same, incompetent dolts who drove the companies to insolvency in the first place (plus, we pay them extravagantly for allowing us this great this honor). Pay the judges, but can the bailout!!
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