Legal Definitions - Twenty-seventh Amendment

The Twenty-seventh Amendment is a provision of the United States Constitution that dictates when changes to the salaries of members of Congress can take effect. Specifically, it prevents any law that increases or decreases the pay of Senators and Representatives from becoming active until the start of the next congressional term following an election. This means that members of Congress who vote on their own salaries cannot immediately benefit from those changes; they must first face the voters in an election before any new pay scale applies to them or the subsequent Congress.

Here are some examples illustrating the Twenty-seventh Amendment:

• Example 1: Pay Raise Before an Election

  Imagine it is September 2024, just a couple of months before the general election. The current Congress passes a bill to increase the annual salaries for all Senators and Representatives. According to the Twenty-seventh Amendment, this pay raise would not go into effect immediately for the members who voted for it. Instead, it would only apply starting in January 2025, when the newly elected Congress (chosen in the November 2024 election) officially convenes. This ensures that voters have the opportunity to consider their representatives' actions, including the vote on a pay raise, before those representatives can personally benefit from it.

• Example 2: Pay Decrease During a Term

  Consider a scenario where, in April 2023, early in a new congressional term, members of Congress vote to implement a significant decrease in their own salaries, perhaps in response to an economic downturn. Even though the next general election is still over a year and a half away (November 2024), the Twenty-seventh Amendment dictates that this pay decrease cannot be implemented until January 2025. This delay ensures that the members who voted for the change must serve out their current term and face re-election (or retirement) before the new, lower salary level becomes active for the subsequent Congress, applying the same principle of delayed effect whether the change is an increase or a decrease.