(AFP) – US senators agreed unanimously Thursday to suspend their own pay during government shutdowns, in an effort to force Congress to share the financial pain after a series of funding standoffs that upended the federal government. The measure reflects growing political sensitivity around shutdowns after federal agencies were at least partially shuttered for much of the past eight months, disrupting services, delaying benefits, and intensifying frustration with Washington dysfunction.
Sponsored by Republican John Kennedy of Louisiana, it directs the upper chamber to withhold senators’ salaries whenever funding lapses for at least one federal agency or department. Lawmakers would receive the withheld pay only after the shutdown ends. The resolution applies only to senators and does not require approval from the House of Representatives or President Donald Trump. Because of constitutional restrictions on changing congressional pay, it will not take effect until after the November midterm elections.
The vote came after an extraordinary stretch of funding crises since President Donald Trump returned to office. The federal government endured a 43-day shutdown late last year during a dispute over expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies, followed this year by a record-setting 76-day shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security tied to clashes over immigration enforcement funding. Hundreds of thousands of federal employees were furloughed or forced to work without pay during the disruptions, while members of Congress continued collecting salaries — a disparity that fueled bipartisan frustration on Capitol Hill.
“We ought to hide our heads in a bag. It’s got to stop,” Kennedy said ahead of the vote. “Shutting down government should not be our default solution to our refusal to work out our issues and our differences.” Kennedy argued the measure would create stronger incentives for lawmakers to avoid future shutdowns, though he acknowledged he would have preferred a tougher proposal permanently stripping senators of pay and preventing them from leaving Washington during funding lapses.
The senator, who is not related to the famous political clan that produced former president John F. Kennedy and Trump’s health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., said his resolution is about “shared sacrifice.” “This is about putting our money where our mouth is,” he told his colleagues.
© 2024 AFP
