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Senators unanimously approved a resolution to withhold their pay during government shutdowns, an attempt to make federal closures financially painful for lawmakers after a string of record-breaking impasses in the past year.
The bipartisan support for the measure comes at a time when federal closures have become longer and more frequent, frustrating lawmakers who say there should be punishment when Congress fails at its most basic legislative duty.
Under the resolution, senators’ pay would be withheld by the Secretary of the Senate whenever a government shutdown affects one or more agencies, and then released once funding is restored. It will take effect the day after the November 3 general election and does not apply to the House.
“Shutting down government should not be our default solution to our refusal to work out our issues and our differences,” said Sen. John Kennedy, the bill’s sponsor, in a floor speech. “This is about putting our money where our mouth is,” said Kennedy.
Two shutdowns in the past year created significant financial hardship for tens of thousands of federal workers, particularly at the Department of Homeland Security. The department reopened last month after a 76-day partial shutdown, the longest agency funding lapse in history.
The Constitution stipulates that lawmakers must be paid, so they have received salaries during shutdowns even as federal workers went without paychecks. When the full government shutdown began in October amid a dispute over health care subsidies, Sen. Lindsey Graham proposed a constitutional amendment to require members to forfeit their paychecks when the government is closed.
“If members of Congress had to forfeit their pay during government shutdowns, there would be fewer shutdowns, and they would end quicker,” Graham said at the time.
Graham said his legislation was the most “constitutionally sound” way to deal with the problem, but the process would have been much more laborious, as three-fourths of states must ratify an amendment.
Lawmakers in previous shutdowns have often pledged to forgo their paychecks while federal workers went unpaid. Senators earn an annual salary of $174,000, but many are independently wealthy.
This article was provided by The Associated Press.