Senate

Senate adopts measure to suspend senators’ pay during future shutdowns

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by Alexander Bolton - 05/14/26 12:20 PM ET

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by Alexander Bolton - 05/14/26 12:20 PM ET

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The Senate on Thursday unanimously approved a resolution sponsored by Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) to suspend senators’ pay during future government shutdowns, a new rule that could give lawmakers in the upper chamber a powerful incentive not to block funding bills ahead of key deadlines.

The Senate adopted the resolution by voice vote. It will go into effect after the November midterm election so it could apply to a potential end-of-year government shutdown, but not if one occurs ahead of the Sept. 30 end of the fiscal year.

The measure directs the secretary of the Senate to withhold all salary payments to senators if a government shutdown occurs. A senator would not lose his or salary as the money would be put in an escrow account. But the money would not be available to lawmakers while the government is shut down.

The resolution defines a shutdown as the lapse in funding for one or more federal agencies or departments — which means a partial government shutdown, such as Congress’s failure to fund the Department of Homeland Security for 76 days earlier this year, would result in senators not getting paid for weeks on end.

Kennedy said he wanted to make the resolution effective immediately because he’s “very concerned that my Senate colleagues on the Democratic side are going to try to shut down government yet again right before the elections to try to create chaos to affect the midterm elections.”

He included language to delay the implementation of the pay freeze during a shutdown because the 27th Amendment prohibits any law that increases or decreases the salaries of members of Congress until after the next election of the House of Representatives.

Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) hailed the proposal as a smart move to “put pressure” on senators not to force another government shutdown.

“I think anything we can do to put pressure on senators in this case to come to the table and make a deal is a good thing,” he said.

“We’ve seen the Democrats weaponize the situation where they withhold votes to support funding the government. I think it’s one more tool in the toolbox,” he said.

The federal government shut down for a record 43 days in the fall after Senate Democrats repeatedly blocked a government funding stopgap passed by the House because it didn’t address the expiration of enhanced health insurance premium tax credits under the Affordable Care Act.

The Department of Homeland Security saw its funding lapse for 76 days earlier this year after Democrats refused to agree to any appropriations bill that funded Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol without also implementing reforms such as requiring federal immigration officers to obtain judicial warrants before entering private homes.

The Senate voted 99-0 to advance the Kennedy resolution on the floor Wednesday.

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