In a rare display of bipartisan unity on Thursday, members of the U.S. Senate voted unanimously to approve a measure that would suspend their own salaries for the duration of any future government shutdown, a step designed to force lawmakers to share the financial burden that falls on federal workers and American citizens when funding gridlock brings federal operations to a halt.
The move comes in direct response to a string of crippling funding standoffs that have disrupted the federal government repeatedly over the past eight years, leaving millions of Americans facing disrupted public services, delayed benefit payments, and growing anger at the pervasive political dysfunction in Washington D.C. The proposal has its roots in the widespread public criticism that followed recent extended shutdowns, when hundreds of thousands of federal employees were forced to work without pay or placed on unpaid furlough, while members of Congress continued to receive their full salaries on schedule.
Sponsored by Republican Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana, who is not affiliated with the prominent Kennedy political family that produced former President John F. Kennedy and 2024 presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the measure requires the Senate to withhold pay from all sitting senators any time funding expires for at least one federal agency or department. Withheld salaries would only be released to lawmakers once the shutdown ends and full government funding is restored.
Unlike binding legislation, this resolution applies exclusively to the operation of the Senate and does not require approval from the House of Representatives or a signature from President Donald Trump to take effect. However, a longstanding constitutional ban on adjusting congressional pay mid-term means the rule will not go into force until after the upcoming November midterm elections.
The string of funding crises that prompted this vote stretches back to the start of Trump’s current term in office. Most recently, the federal government suffered a 43-day shutdown last year amid a bitter dispute over expired Affordable Care Act subsidies. That was followed earlier this year by a 76-day partial shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security, the longest partial department shutdown in U.S. history, triggered by clashes over funding for immigration enforcement operations.
Speaking ahead of the final vote, Kennedy emphasized that the existing system, which insulates lawmakers from the financial harm of shutdowns while ordinary workers bear the cost, is unacceptable. “We ought to hide our heads in a bag. It’s got to stop,” Kennedy said, adding that, “Shutting down government should not be our default solution to our refusal to work out our issues and our differences.”
Kennedy framed the bill as a necessary incentive to push lawmakers to reach funding agreements and avoid future shutdowns, acknowledging that he had pushed for a stricter original proposal that would permanently withhold pay from senators during shutdowns and bar them from leaving Washington while a funding lapse is ongoing. Even so, he framed the unanimous vote as a step toward the shared sacrifice he says is needed in Congress. “This is about putting our money where our mouth is,” he told his fellow senators ahead of the vote.