House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) rejected the idea of continuing a congressional pay freeze until Congress can balance the budget, saying that it would take “a long time” until the budget might be balanced – too long, he said, for Congress to go without a pay raise.

Speaking to reporters at his weekly press briefing, Hoyer explained that Congress had already frozen its pay by rejecting a cost of living increase. However, extending that freeze was too much for Hoyer to support.