The Senate took a key step Wednesday to withhold members’ pay during government shutdowns, a move that some lawmakers hope will give their colleagues fresh incentive to avoid them.
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Standoffs between Democrats and Republicans have triggered three government shutdowns in recent months, forcing many federal workers to labor without pay. The federal government has been at least partially shut down for most of the past eight months.
Senators voted 99-0 to advance the resolution, introduced by Sen. John Neely Kennedy (R-Louisiana). Sen. Pete Ricketts (R-Nebraska) did not vote. The Senate still must take several more votes to pass the resolution unless lawmakers agree to speed up the process, but the unanimous vote on Wednesday suggests it will clear the chamber easily.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-South Dakota) told reporters that passing the measure could “provide an additional incentive to keep Senate Democrats in the future from shutting the government down again.”
Democrats have blamed the recent shutdowns on the GOP, arguing that Republicans refused to make any concessions.
In November, during the 43-day government shutdown triggered by a standoff over expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies, Kennedy introduced legislation to withhold lawmakers’ pay. The legislation would have applied to all members of Congress, while the resolution the Senate voted to advance Wednesday would apply only to senators.
The resolution would not take effect until after the midterm elections if it passes.
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Kennedy said the measure was not as strong as he would like. He said he would prefer legislation forcing senators to forfeit their pay during shutdowns — rather than having it withheld temporarily — and barring them from leaving Washington as long as the government is shuttered.
“If you do that, you’d stop shutdowns,” Kennedy said. “But I can’t pass that.”
The resolution directs the secretary of the Senate to withhold senators’ pay and release it “as soon as practicable” when the shutdown is over. It would apply whenever there is a lapse in appropriations for at least one federal agency or department — meaning it would have blocked senators from being paid during the record-setting 76-day shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security, which ended last month.
Kennedy tried to pass the resolution by unanimous consent in March during the DHS shutdown but was blocked by Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii).
Sen. Alex Padilla (California), the top Democrat on the Senate Rules and Administration Committee, said he would like similar restrictions for the House and the executive branch.
“The executive branch, the White House is obviously critical in the negotiation of spending bills,” Padilla said. “So what’s good for the goose …”
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