Senators consider stopping their pay in future shutdown

The longest government shutdown in U.S. history is behind Congress, but Sen. John Kennedy is upping the ante by targeting senators’ salaries. 

The Senate Rules and Administration Committee considered the Louisiana Republican’s resolution that, starting next November, would withhold the pay of senators in the event of a government shutdown.

The bill addresses only the Senate, not the House, ranking member Alex Padilla pointed out.

“I believe that we should treat members of the House and the members of the Senate the same,” the California Democrat said Thursday, adding that the current resolution would place the Senate on “unequal footing with the House and potentially adversely complicate shutdown negotiations in the future.”

Two amendments were offered during the committee meeting and put on hold.

Sen. Michael Bennet, Colorado Democrat, called up his amendment to prohibit former members of Congress from registering as lobbyists.

“This amendment addresses a serious problem in our democracy: the buying and selling of influence,” he said.

Mr. Bennet introduced this legislation in 2010, he said, and since then, the amount spent on lobbying and the number of lobbyists have only grown.

Sen. Jon Ossoff, Georgia Democrat, called up his own amendment to prohibit stock trading by senators. 

“Folks, we have a problem, which is that members of Congress are playing the stock market while sitting in office, buying and selling shares of publicly traded stock while making decisions how to regulate those companies, while privy to confidential corporate information, while privy to confidential national security information,” he said. “And it is so corrosive to public trust and in this institution.”

Sen. Jeff Merkley voiced his support for the amendment “in the interest of this Senate serving the American people.”

The Oregon Democrat added, “We all have a collective interest in Americans seeing that we act with integrity that is not corrupted by our concern about our pocketbook over the public interest.”

The Oct. 1-Nov. 12 shutdown resulted from a deadlock between Republicans and Democrats over funding. Democrats wanted to extend Obamacare enhanced subsidies; Republicans said no.

A deal was reached, resulting in a resolution to fund the government through Jan. 30.

During the 43-day stoppage, at least 55 of the 100 senators did not take their paychecks or said they would donate their salaries, according to ABC News. This includes 26 Republicans, 28 Democrats and one independent.

Congress is required by Article I, Section 6, of the Constitution to determine its own pay. The last time members of Congress received a pay adjustment was in January 2009, when salaries rose 2.8% to $174,000, according to a Congressional Research Service report.

Multiple bills have failed to prohibit paying members of Congress during a government shutdown. The committee voted unanimously to advance Mr. Kennedy’s bill.