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Thursday, Apr. 8, 2021

Does the COVID-19 relief bill give members of the U.S. House of Representatives a $25 million bonus?

Dana Ford, Lead Stories
no

The claim in a social media post about the $1.9 trillion bill cites no source and has no basis in fact.

There is nothing in the legislation about a $25 million bonus for members of the U.S. House. The post making that claim refers to "Line 17" as detailing the purported bonus. Every page in the 628-page bill has a "Line 17" —none of them detailing a multi-million-dollar bonus for House members.

According to the Congressional Research Service, the last time members of Congress received a pay adjustment was in January 2009 —their salaries increased to $174,000 per year, where they have remained.

The Congressional Institute, a nonprofit established to educate Americans about Congress, says that members often vote against pay increases.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

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Fact briefs are bite-sized, well-sourced explanations that offer clear "yes" or "no" answers to questions, confusions, and unsupported claims circulating online. They rely on publicly available data and documents, often from the original source. Fact briefs are written and published by Gigafact contributor publications.

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