Senators will now go without pay during future shutdowns in a bid to instill the same pain on lawmakers that federal workers have felt several times in recent months.
The upper chamber unanimously passed a resolution to prevent senators from being paid in the event of a shutdown in a move that could thwart future closures by making the consequences real for lawmakers.
Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., who pushed the measure, argued that preventing lawmakers from collecting a paycheck was a “shared sacrifice” after tens of thousands of federal employees went without pay during the two shutdowns that have happened since last year.
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“Last October, we shut down the government for 43 days. That is the longest shutdown in history. And we had FBI agents, national park rangers, CDC scientists, our staff here in Congress — nobody was getting paid,” Kennedy said on the Senate floor.
“And then, three months later, after we finally got out of that 43-day shutdown, we shut down the Department of Homeland Security. It was shut down for 76 days. This is all in one year,” he continued. “We ought to hide our heads in a bag. It’s got to stop.”
Both shutdowns led to real-world effects on Americans, particularly those traveling through the nation’s airports, as Transportation Security Administration (TSA) workers went without pay during both record-shattering closures.
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Kennedy’s resolution, which applies only to senators, would direct the secretary of the Senate to withhold lawmakers’ pay until a shutdown is resolved. Effectively, their paychecks would be thrown into escrow while lawmakers hash out a deal to reopen the government.
Once a shutdown ends, the money will flow again.
A rank-and-file senator earns $174,000 per year, while a leader of either party can earn over $193,000.
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It’s one of many moves lawmakers have made during and after the pair of historic shutdowns to make shuttering the government a self-inflicted wound, or prevent shutdowns from happening altogether.
Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., has a bill backed by federal labor unions that would ensure federal workers were paid during a shutdown, while Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., has a bill that would prevent shutdowns altogether by automatically but temporarily extending funding for two weeks at a time.
It comes after the notion of shuttering the government was, for several decades, an option of last resort. But the last year has shown that Senate Democrats are willing to use the consequential tool as a political cudgel.
Despite having the blessing of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., Republicans aren’t convinced that the top Senate Democrat and his caucus will not try to shut the government down again before the midterm elections.
Notably, Kennedy’s resolution wouldn’t kick in until after the upcoming election cycle in November, meaning that lawmakers would still skirt having their paychecks withheld.
