As a result, a vast spending bill for the fiscal year that begins in October will reach the House floor on Wednesday without the section that covers Congress as lawmakers negotiate whether to maintain the frozen pay rate of $174,000 a year for rank-and-file members.

“The reason we have done this in a bipartisan fashion is because people are demagoguing it, and I don’t want any of my members who are in tough districts subjected to that,” Mr. Hoyer told reporters.



The renewed debate has prompted serious grappling with the failure of American politics to account for rising costs of living, especially for lawmakers who maintain homes in high-cost Washington and high-cost districts. Advocates for the raise, including some of the brash new members of the 116th Congress, argue that the frozen pay has contributed to high turnover rates and a legislative body that does not match the people it represents.

“I see members all the time, I see the financial pressure that they’re under because this job is unique,” said Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Democrat of New York, who recently returned to her bartending roots for an event protesting income inequality. “Members of Congress, retail workers — everybody should get a cost of living increase to accommodate for the changes in our economy.”

Mr. Hoyer, who has for years worked to broker deals to ensure the automatic cost-of-living adjustments written automatically into annual spending bills will not be blocked, argued on Tuesday that the limits on member pay also undercut congressional aides who do the bulk of the behind-the-scenes legislative work.