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A growing number of lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have declared they’re forgoing their paychecks as the government shutdown drags on.
The federal government has been shut down for nearly a week after Senate Democrats rejected Republicans’ plan to fund agencies through Nov. 21 multiple times.
Reps. Chip Roy, R-Texas, Ashley Hinson, R-Iowa, Tom Barrett, R-Mich., Mariannette Miller-Meeks, R-Iowa, and Rob Bresnahan, R-Pa., are among the Republicans who wrote to the Chief Administrative Officer of the U.S. House of Representatives asking for their pay to be withheld during a shutdown.
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Reps. Chip Roy, left, and Ashley Hinson, right have asked for their salaries to be withheld during a shutdown, while Sen. Lindsey Graham, center, has said he would donate his. (Kent Nishimura/Getty Images; Amir Levy/Getty Images; Scott Olson/Getty Images)
Democrats like Reps. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., and Lou Correa, D-Calif., have requested the same.
But lawmakers requesting their pay be withheld cannot forgo it altogether, because federal law requires them to be paid.
Article I of the Constitution 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.”
Further, the 27th Amendment prevents any changes to congressional pay until after the next election.
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Rep. Josh Gottheimer speaks after the Democratic gubernatorial debate at Rider University in Lawrenceville, N.J., on Feb. 2, 2025. (Mike Catalini/AP)
Most House and Senate lawmakers are paid $174,000 yearly — a figure that has not changed since 2009 — while members of congressional leadership can earn more.
A source familiar with the matter told Fox News Digital that members of Congress can elect to have their pay withheld until a shutdown is over, but they must receive that as backpay when the government is funded again.
Meanwhile, Rep. Joe Morelle, D-N.Y., the top Democrat on the Committee for House Administration, told Bloomberg Government last week that those checks can go into an account separate from lawmakers’ usual salaries. He told the outlet, “It’s an administrative way of withholding pay for people who choose to.”
The government is in a partial shutdown after Congress failed to reach an agreement on federal funding. (Getty Images)
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Congressional staffers, meanwhile, automatically miss paychecks if their pay period falls during a government shutdown — but that is also backpaid when the shutdown ends.
Some lawmakers, like Sens. Ashley Moody, R-Fla., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., have announced they would donate their paychecks for the duration of the shutdown.
“Each day the government remains closed, I will be donating my salary to the Crisis Center of Tampa Bay, which provides help to vulnerable populations who may be impacted by this reckless choice,” Moody said in a statement last week.
