WASHINGTON — Sen. Brian Schatz doesn’t want the Senate to get left behind after a year of House action aimed at improving staff retention.
The Hawaii Democrat, who has championed the cause in the past, sent a letter to Senate Legislative Branch appropriators pushing for a 20 percent bump to the allowance that senators use to pay their staffers.
It could be a long shot, since Republicans seem reluctant to hike office budgets again after providing a modest increase last year of 5 percent. But Schatz argued that as senators sit down to make decisions about fiscal 2023 spending, paying their employees a living wage should be a priority.
