News Archive 2011 1st Qtr

Gov't shutdown and congressman pay

From a 3/24/11 Senator Debbie Stabenow e-mail

A loophole in federal law says that Members of Congress will continue to get paid, even if the government shuts down because they failed to pass a budget.

I’ve cosponsored legislation that would stop pay for the President and Members of Congress during a government shutdown. This legislation passed the Senate unanimously, but the Republican leadership in the House has not scheduled a vote on it.

A government shutdown could disrupt Social Security checks and veterans’ benefits, hold up exports, cost us jobs, and will halt paychecks for hundreds of thousands of people. Lawmakers should feel the impact of a government shutdown just like everyone else. It’s only fair that Members of Congress’ paychecks be stopped too.

Contact our Congressional House Representative and let him know that Senate bill S.388 needs to come up for a vote in the House and he needs to vote for it! There's a link to Republican Congressman Dan Benishek's contact Web page on our Gov't Contacts page.