this post was submitted on 01 Oct 2025
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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.

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[–] Evotech@lemmy.world 2 points 1 hour ago

Yeah we knew this from the last 5 times this happened

[–] bitjunkie@lemmy.world 1 points 1 hour ago

I wonder who came up with that rule…

[–] Upsidedownturtle@lemmy.world 5 points 2 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago) (2 children)

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.

[–] SippyCup@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

So give the Republicans the government they actually want?

[–] JigglySackles@lemmy.world 3 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago)

They didn't say that.

Edit: Sorry, thought you were implying that dems should give in to avoid this scenario. Still waking up lol

[–] bitjunkie@lemmy.world 1 points 1 hour ago

They wouldn't dare because then people would actually do something about it.

[–] DeathByBigSad@sh.itjust.works 6 points 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 2 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

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 1 points 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 27 points 1 day ago (1 children)

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 14 points 1 day ago (1 children)

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

[–] HubertManne@piefed.social 9 points 1 day ago (1 children)

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.

[–] prettybunnys@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 day ago (1 children)

It’s lien, but I’d also like someone to give all the equipment some lean so they can chill during the shutdown.

[–] HubertManne@piefed.social 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Since they can't use equipment to me they should get paid but not do anything until sorted.

[–] prettybunnys@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 day ago

The employees should also be issued some lean so they can chill too, I like your style.

[–] hildegarde@lemmy.blahaj.zone 76 points 1 day ago (8 children)

This is how it's always worked.

If members of congress were not paid, the richer members could use a shutdown to coerce the poorer members, knowing that they have enough saving to survive the payment stop longer than poorer members. In a government where shutdowns are possible, continuing to pay representatives is necessary.

In a proper country, a shutdown would result in an immediate recall and disbarment of every elected official. But we don't live in a proper country.

Continuing to pay those responsible for the shutdown is a bad thing. Punishing every other government worker for someone else's ineptitude is bad. But on balance not paying congress would probably be just a bit worse.

[–] ByteJunk@lemmy.world 22 points 1 day ago

This is 100% correct. In most civilised countries, if a yearly budget cannot be approved, the whole cabinet gets disbanded.

Usually this leads to a new president (usually, a PM) getting appointed, but ultimately would lead to new elections.

[–] Steelpan@lemmy.world 35 points 1 day ago (1 children)

In a proper country there are no government shutdowns.

[–] TeamAssimilation@infosec.pub 21 points 1 day ago

A government shutting down is a failed state. That never should happen, and if it happens, safeguards should be implemented ASAP so it can’t happen again.

[–] notarobot@lemmy.zip 2 points 1 day ago

Yeah. If they were not getting paid or it was disbared (non English speaker. It's the first time I've seen that word so it might be wrong), then they would approve any budget, which could be arguably worse

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[–] protist@mander.xyz 82 points 1 day ago (6 children)

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 28 points 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 15 points 1 day ago

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

[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

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.

[–] protist@mander.xyz 2 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

You'll notice I said "many" and not "all."

[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 1 points 18 hours ago

You’ll notice I said “many”

I'll spot you "a few".

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[–] kennedy@lemmy.dbzer0.com 49 points 1 day ago (4 children)

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 3 points 17 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 8 points 1 day ago* (last edited 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 9 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

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 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

he's a he apparently, twice divorced. First married to the mayor phoenix and now to a lobbyist for the national association of realtors. Also went to harvard. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruben_Gallego

Senator Ruben Gallego has filed a new annual financial disclosure, which was parsed by Quiver's congressional net worth tracking software.

Some of the disclosed holdings which were parsed include:

Up to $50,000 in Aspiration Up to $50,000 in Aspiration Fund Adviser LLC Up to $50,000 in NameCoach Inc. Up to $15,000 in Aggressive Track: 80% Equity Portfolio Up to $15,000 in JFFCX - Jpmorgan Smartretirement 2055 Fd C

We have data on up to $100.0K of trades from Senator Ruben Gallego, which we parsed from STOCK Act filings

https://www.quiverquant.com/news/Senator+Ruben+Gallego+has+filed+a+new+financial+disclosure+-+here%E2%80%99s+what+we+see

[–] melsaskca@lemmy.ca 11 points 1 day ago (1 children)

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.

[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

The “People” no longer have any say

When did they?

Certainly not when the document was signed.

[–] Birch@sh.itjust.works 3 points 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.

[–] SeeMarkFly@lemmy.ml 29 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Does ICE get paid?

If not I'm all in.

[–] ryathal@sh.itjust.works 1 points 9 minutes ago

No one gets paid except Congress until the shutdown ends. Then everyone else gets back pay.

[–] empireOfLove2@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 17 hours ago

Does ICE get paid?

Of course they do, that's obviously more important than any other public service.

[–] henfredemars@infosec.pub 14 points 1 day ago (2 children)

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.

[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

Some of the best health care in the world.

I've seen speculation that the health care benefits are a big reason why 90 year old Congress critters refuse to retire.

[–] natecox@programming.dev 7 points 1 day ago

Hey, come on, there’s no need to insult leeches.

[–] Inucune@lemmy.world 10 points 1 day ago (1 children)

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

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[–] Formfiller@lemmy.world 3 points 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

[–] BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today 2 points 1 day ago

Of course they do.

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