The Choice The 27th Amendment: Congressional Salaries
This amendment is the last amendment ratified.
Issue #971 The Choice, Friday, December 19, 2025
Every Friday until the end of 2025, we will publish a post about each of the 27 Amendments to the Constitution.
This is my final “We Are Speaking” post of the year. I appreciate your support, and we’ll be back on January 5, 2026!
The 27th Amendment to the United States Constitution addresses the compensation of members of Congress. Ratified on May 7, 1992, it states: “No law, varying the compensation for the services of the Senators and Representatives, shall take effect, until an election of Representatives shall have been made.”
The 27th Amendment prevents Congress from immediately increasing its own salaries. Any law that changes congressional pay cannot take effect until after the next election of House representatives. This means members of Congress who vote to raise their own salaries cannot benefit from the increase during their current term.
The 27th Amendment has a unique history. It was originally proposed in 1789 as part of the Bill of Rights, but was not ratified at that time. In the 1980s, a college student named Gregory Watson launched a grassroots campaign to revive it. His efforts succeeded, and the amendment was finally ratified in 1992, making it the most recently adopted amendment to the Constitution.
The amendment reflects a fundamental principle of democratic governance: elected officials should not be able to enrich themselves at public expense immediately.
Our Choice: By requiring an election cycle to pass before a pay increase takes effect, the amendment ensures that voters have the opportunity to hold their representatives accountable for voting themselves a raise.
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