The Senate adopted a resolution Thursday to withhold senators’ paychecks during government shutdowns, passing unanimously 99-0 in a rare display of bipartisan accountability.
The measure, introduced by Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA), instructs the Secretary of the Senate to hold lawmakers’ salaries for the duration of any future federal shutdown. Senators would receive that pay only after the government reopens. The resolution does not require House passage or a presidential signature.
“Take your brain with you, because this is about shared sacrifice. This is about putting our money where our mouth is,” Kennedy said on the Senate floor ahead of Wednesday’s procedural vote.
Kennedy’s resolution applies only to the Senate. Multiple similar bills have been introduced in the House, but their prospects remain unclear. “Shutting down the government should not be our default solution to our refusal to work out our issues and our differences,” Kennedy said.
The resolution will not take effect until after the November 2026 midterm elections, a requirement of the 27th Amendment, which prohibits congressional pay changes from applying to the current Congress.
The vote follows two consecutive record-breaking shutdowns. A 43-day closure last fall, stemming from a standoff over Affordable Care Act subsidies, furloughed approximately 670,000 federal workers, forced 60,000 private-sector employees out of jobs and cut off food assistance for SNAP recipients. Members of Congress continued to receive their $174,000 annual salaries throughout.
A second partial shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security, lasting 75 days, left Transportation Security Administration agents, Coast Guard members and other DHS employees working without pay. Gridlock over immigration enforcement funding and ICE oversight reforms drove that impasse.
