While the public was distracted with college bowl games and New Year’s celebrations, a House committee secretly changed a congressional handbook guiding House operations that effectively amounts to at least a $39,000 pay increase, according to former Rep. Mo Brooks.

The Members’ Congressional Handbook, which includes regulations such as how many staff members congressmen can hire, how much they can pay their staff and which expenses incurred by House members are eligible for reimbursement, among other guidelines, was updated on Dec. 30.

The update will compensate members for living expenses while in Washington, said the former Republican congressman representing Huntsville and north Alabama.

Members of Congress are paid at least $174,000 a year — and last received a salary increase in 2009. The change to compensation equates to a 29 percent salary increase for a member who files taxes as a married couple and 33 percent for single-filer members.

Meanwhile, the committee made the revision to the handbook without conducting official business. Its last documented activity was in July, Brooks said.

“While a reasonable debate exists about whether Congress deserves a 29 percent to 33 percent compensation increase, there is no defense to the clandestine way congressmen padded their own wallets, all at taxpayer expense,” the former lawmaker said in a statement.

“This self-serving compensation increase was either not authorized by the House of Representatives (it received no House floor debate) or it was buried in a massive bill without public knowledge or debate. This is not the way to do the public’s business,” Brooks continued.

In the handbook section on travel, the guide now states that “ordinary and necessary expenses associated with travel (including lodging and meals) are reimbursable with the [Members Representational Allowance.]” The MRA is an account covering a member’s reimbursable expenses.

Members can claim up to the daily allowable per diem rate set by the U.S. General Services Administration for the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, according to the handbook.

The GSA rate for the D.C. area caps reimbursable meals at $79 a day. The 2023 House calendar includes 119 session days, meaning members can be reimbursed up to $9,401 this year for meals.

The daily rates for lodging vary by month, ranging from $172 per day in July and August (the House calendar does not include any session days in August) to $258 per day from March through June.

According to the handbook, House members are eligible for reimbursement for “hotels, rentals, or other housing costs. Interest or principal associated with mortgage payments are not reimbursable.

Combining both per diems, congressman would be netting at least $39,000 per year due to the change. Brooks said members would not need to pay taxes on the reimbursements.

“Congressional compensation increases should be used to attract better candidates for Congress, not reward those who happen to win,” Brooks said.

The former representative called on Alabama’s congressional delegation and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., to call for a floor debate on the issue “and then debate and vote on the merits of this extraordinarily large Congressional compensation increase.”