Millions of federal workers won’t get paid during a government shutdown. But the people who could prevent or end a shutdown — members of Congress — will still receive a paycheck.

That’s because their pay is protected under Article I, Section 6 of the Constitution, which states: “The Senators and Representatives shall receive a Compensation for their Services, to be ascertained by Law, and paid out of the Treasury of the United States.”

The Constitution “says members will be paid,” Rep. Joe Morelle of New York, the top Democrat on the House Administration Committee, explained to reporters Tuesday.

  • Upsidedownturtle@lemmy.world
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    3 hours ago

    If government shutdowns shut down everything (no usps mail delivery, no social security, no ice, no border crossings, no Medicare authorization, no air travel, etc) then they would never exist because it would become significant degradation in everyones quality of life.

  • DeathByBigSad@sh.itjust.works
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    14 hours ago

    They should be forced to work just like the military is forced to.

    Lock them all in the building, no tweeting, if they are hungry, they can eat prison food.

    They stay there until conflict is resolved. Or they can resign their position and forever give up the right to be involed in politics… 🤷‍♂️

  • SabinStargem@lemmy.today
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    13 hours ago

    Among many overhauls that I would like to see, I would like political critters to have limited income, with it based on popular votes held every half-year of their term. Wiping away current standards of income, it would be four brackets for politicians: $40k, $60k, $80k, and $100k annually, initially starting their term at the lowest level. People vote for one of these four, and that is the politician’s pay until the next pay vote.

    This would allow voters to tangibly voice their (dis)approval of a politico throughout their term, which incentivizes the critter to actually pay attention to their constitute’s interests. If a politician seems strangely wealthy despite not having high approval pay, that would make it easier to spot corruption as well.

    • bitjunkie@lemmy.world
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      1 hour ago

      Your heart is in the right place, but the last thing we want to do is make them more incentivized to accept bribes.

  • Taldan@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    Hot take: Congress should be paid during a shutdown

    The wealthy members of congress don’t care about their salary. They already have large amounts of money made even bigger by insider trading, bribery, and the promise of a lucrative “consulting” role when they leave congress

    The honest, working class members of congress rely on their salary. Taking away their salary would give a powerful tool for the wealthy congress members to force the working class members to vote with the wealthy members. It would also incentivize more corruption. Insider trading looks a whole lot more tempting when your income suddenly disappeared and you have $3,000 in rent due tomorrow

    • krashmo@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      Cool, now use this kind of logic to protect the pay of federal employees during shutdowns.

      • HubertManne@piefed.social
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        1 day ago

        Yup. All salaries should be paid but no buying anything and all buildings shutdown with utilities off. All current equippment should be considered to have a lean on them to cover us obligations and can’t be used.

  • protist@mander.xyz
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    2 days ago

    It should be noted that not getting paid during a government shutdown would disproportionately negatively affect Democrats in the House, many of whom rely on that income. More House Republicans are independently wealthy.

    • NuXCOM_90Percent@lemmy.zip
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      1 day ago

      And, in theory, they are actively working to restart the government.

      Like most things with the US (and, honestly, most countries) government, it is all based upon people acting “honorably” and in good faith.

    • Serinus@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      And besides party lines, you really don’t want policies that only really punish politicians who haven’t grifted.

    • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      It really varies by state and department.

      Plenty of red states have stacked their bureaucracies with loyal Republican apparatchiks. They’ll be hit as hard as anyone else.

      More House Republicans are independently wealthy.

      Vanishingly few Congresscritters are anything resembling poor. You need a certain excess of free time and wealth just to attempt to run. And you need a large body of wealthy friends to finance your campaign.

      The idea that Nancy Pelosi and Dick Durbin can’t weather this storm because they’re Democrats is absurd.

    • sadfitzy@ttrpg.network
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      1 day ago

      many of whom rely on that income

      Keep in mind, it’s a 6-figure salary and they’d rather live a higher quality of life than save or invest that money for later.

      It’s not about needs, it’s about wants. These people are all richer than us.

      • rozodru@piefed.social
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        1 day ago

        for those curious it’s $174,000 per annum for members of the House and Senate. according to rentcafe and numbeo the average price for an apartment just under 800 sq ft a month is about $2500. Other cost of living expenses are on par with other major cities.

        They’re fine. This doesn’t include other benefits and kick backs and what have you which I imagine they all get plenty of.

        • protist@mander.xyz
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          1 day ago

          the average price for an apartment just under 800 sq ft a month is about $2500

          That’s usually a second home they’re paying for, because most of them have places to live and families in their respective states when not in session. Does the federal government reimburse for flights back and forth from their home to DC? Because there are a lot of those too

  • kennedy@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    1 day ago

    Some lawmakers said they can’t afford missing a pay period.

    “I’m not wealthy, and I have three kids. I would basically be missing, you know, mortgage payments, rent payments, child support,” Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., told NBC News. “So it’s not feasible, not gonna happen.”

    oh so just like the thousand of workers that are being affected right now…

    • LastYearsIrritant@sopuli.xyz
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      18 hours ago

      Right, but you don’t want him to make a bad deal just to put food on his own table.

      It’s kind of a bad situation either way, but I’d prefer they keep getting paid and don’t have to take bribes or a shit deal for me for his own personal gain.

    • callouscomic@lemmy.zip
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      1 day ago

      Millions. Not thousands. Millions of civil servants who work tirelessly and often thanklessly to make everyday life better for us all.

    • sadfitzy@ttrpg.network
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      Keep in mind, she’s saying that while living at a higher quality of life than most of you.

      It’s not an on/off switch, it’s a gradient where people try to live as lavishly as possible for as little effort as possible.

      • kennedy@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        1 day ago

        they’re both bickering and finger pointing at each other when they both got us into this mess in the first place and all of them refuse to cut spending. I hate that being a politician nowadays is essentially saying one liners to farm clips for their social media. In reality they’ll just print more money instead of actually budgeting which means raising inflation even more making our lives even worse. I hate the dems and the GOP so much theyre an elite class getting rich while the rest of us get poorer. Both need to go.

  • melsaskca@lemmy.ca
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    1 day ago

    They should finally just amend that paper to say “Fuck the People” instead of “We the People”. The “People” no longer have any say and the ballot box is like Schrödinger’s Cat.

      • Birch@sh.itjust.works
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        12 hours ago

        Well they wouldn’t write “We, the white christian male landowning people” since they didn’t consider the people outside this group as people anyway.

  • Formfiller@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    They should not have retirement or good benefits. If we ever get out of this elected officials should be held to a higher standard and given the bare minimum of what they give the citizens

  • Inucune@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    Funny how the government seemed to work fine with no shutdown during Biden’s presidential tenure.

    • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      There was an ugly shutdown fight in March of 2024. And Biden had ample share of bureaucratic bungles, largely due to his continued reliance on private contractors at firms like SpaceX and Palantir and Microsoft and Boeing.

      That these tech giants ended up stabbing him in the back to move Trump into his seat only further illustrates how badly Biden mangled his single term in office.

  • henfredemars@infosec.pub
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    2 days ago

    They get a ton of extra perks straight from the government that you don’t even want to know about because it should fill you with rage. They’re leeches.