Russ Feingold and Jim Matheson beware, if you vote to restrict Member's pay again you'll feel it in your own wallet. An overlooked provision in the Senate ethics reform bill would refuse COLA pay raises to any Member who votes for an amendment (or against tabling an amendment) that would stop the COLA pay raise. Pay raises always used to be a difficult vote for Members of Congress as public opinion is consistently against higher wages for our elected officials (although some have opined that Congress would be less corrupt if they all made more money). So, our elected officials put in a mandatory cost-of-living-adjustment (COLA) that automatically raises Member's salaries every year.