 Another issue that caused Garfield trouble in his 1874 re @-@ election bid was the so @-@ called " Salary Grab " of 1873 , which increased the compensation for members of Congress by 50 percent , retroactive to 1871 . Garfield was responsible , as Appropriations Committee chairman , for shepherding the legislative appropriations bill through the House ; during the debate in February 1873 , Massachusetts Representative Benjamin Butler offered the increase as an amendment , and despite Garfield 's opposition , it passed the House and eventually became law . The law was very popular in the House , as almost half the members were lame ducks , but the public was outraged , and many of Garfield 's constituents blamed him , though he refused to accept the increase . In what was a bad year for Republicans , who lost control of the House for the first time since the Civil War , Garfield had his closest congressional election , winning with only 57 percent of the vote . 
