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Casey: Block Congressional Pay During A Government Shutdown

Casey: Block Congressional Pay During A Government Shutdown

Threat of a Government Shutdown Should be Taken Off the Table

WASHINGTON, DC— U.S. Senators Bob Casey (D-PA) today called for the pay of Members of Congress and the President of the United States to be blocked in the event of a federal government.  A government shutdown had been threatened by some Washington politicians. 

“Economists have warned that a government shutdown would hurt the economy and endanger job creation,” said Senator Casey.  “A shutdown in a fragile economic recovery will hurt people who have already suffered through the recession.  If it comes to a government shutdown, everyone should agree that Members of Congress and the President should not receive pay or retroactive pay.”
 
Washington Republican leaders have refused to take the threat of a government shutdown off the table, even though a shutdown would affect the lives of millions of Americans by disrupting Social Security checks, benefits for veterans and paychecks for our troops.
 
The legislation introduced today with Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) prevents Members of Congress and the President from being paid retroactively after a government shutdown and would also prevent them from being paid if the public debt limit is reached and the government defaults on its financial obligations.

Currently, Members of Congress and the President are treated differently from millions of other Federal Employees because they are paid through mandatory spending required by law (2 U.S.C. 31 and 3 U.S.C 102) rather than through the annual appropriations process.

The legislation fixes this inequity by saying that the President and Members of Congress “shall not receive basic pay for any period in which there is more than a 24 hour lapse in appropriations for any Federal agency or department as a result of a failure to enact a regular appropriations bill or continuing resolution OR if the Federal Government is unable to make payments or meet obligations because the debt limit….has been reached.”

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3 Responses

  1. is is not ironic that the very people that are causing the shutdown to happen are going to keep recieving pay. maybe congress should not recieve pay and also make them retire on social security and see if it does not get fixed. it always seems that when something needs to be done on the budget it has to be a program that helps people. Maybe a revamp of our agencies who are taking five of them to do one job. hmm oh well we all know that it will not happen because somewhere the government has forgot about who it is they supposed to be representing the “People”.

  2. Almost no one knows that Congress gets paid if the government shuts down. I’ve been trying to get this important story out to people, but they really don’t get how important it is, considering the pecuniary nature of some freshmen GOP House members for whom getting their own paychecks might be the only significant part of the decision.

    It is imperative for you to make this story more important.

  3. This is a wonderful idea. Thank you Senator Casey for helping to prevent a government shut down. Help U.S. Workers

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