Pay raise games

You can tell Sen. Harry Reid will soon face re-election when he publicly claims to support a popular measure but works hard to make sure it fails.

On Tuesday, the majority leader did just that, swearing up and down that he favors a proposal to kill automatic congressional pay hikes, but then lining up his Democratic troops to shoot down such a plan.

Sen. David Vitter earlier this week added an amendment to the president's massive $410 billion spending plan that would have forced senators and representatives to go on record and cast an "aye" vote every time they wanted to boost their own salaries.

Currently, thanks to a 1989 law that ignores the 27th Amendment, the raises kick in automatically, allowing members of Congress to weasel out of being publicly accountable for their money grabs.

Sen. Vitter's move is long overdue -- and Sen. Reid said Tuesday that he agreed the raises "should not be automatic." But soon he was working to remove Sen. Vitter's amendment, arguing it would jeopardize passage of the president's spending plan in the House, where Nancy Pelosi had vowed to reject any changes in the bill.

In fact, Sen. Reid's real concern was precisely the opposite. Politically, Ms. Pelosi would have faced immense heat for holding up the bill over an amendment with massive public support, meaning Sen. Vitter's proposal would almost certainly have become law.

The Senate vote to kill the amendment was 52-45, with just five Republicans siding with the majority Democrats.

Sen. Reid still vows that he remains "committed" to pushing a similar measure on its own. Perhaps.

Just not one that might actually pass.