There’s nothing common sense about this. The 27th Amendment prohibits varying the compensation of members of Congress during a term. Why? Because the Framers didn’t want pay raises OR decreases to be used as bribes to compel members to vote for or against legislation. Imagine how things would play out if members knew that by voting for a bill they would get paid but by voting against a bill they would not get paid. The incentive for self-dealing is horrible. If you value a representative system of government, you don’t want congressional compensation tied to how they vote. That’s why we have the 27th Amendment.