Congressional Compensation

"No law, varying the compensation for the services of the Senators and Representatives, shall take effect, until an election of Representatives shall have intervened."

This amendment was propsed at the same time as the bill of rights and was accepted more than 200 years later. This states that the congress cannot approve a raise for themselves. If one is ratified, then it will not take effect until the next election of house and senate.

No pay raise

This article describes the history of this amendment and why it was finally added in 1992.