Pay for Trump and Congress continues in shutdown

Some members of Congress are asking for their salaries to be withheld during the government shutdown, while federal workers last Friday missed their first full paycheck since many operations closed on Oct. 1.

With no movement toward a deal to end the shutdown, the House remained on a prolonged break from Capitol Hill, the Senate left for its usual long weekend and President Donald Trump prepared to depart for a trip to China. 

The president, lawmakers and federal judges all receive their regular paychecks during government shutdowns, unlike the 2 million civilian federal employees and thousands of staffers who work in the legislative branch. Members of Congress are paid $174,000 a year and leaders are paid more.

Active duty military members would also normally miss their paychecks, but the Defense Department reprogrammed $8 billion earlier this month to avoid a missed payday for U.S. troops. 

Pay for Congress

Unlike most federal workers, members of Congress have the option to receive their pay as normal, donate their salaries to charity, give the money back to the Treasury, or have their checks withheld during this shutdown.  

Rhode Island Democratic Rep. Gabe Amo posted a letter last week from House Chief Administrative Officer Catherine L. Szpindor confirming that House members’ salaries can be held back until after the funding lapse ends. 

Members of Congress who have asked for their salaries to be withheld include Colorado Democratic Senator Michael Bennet, Florida Republican Representative Kat Cammack, New Jersey Democratic Senator Andy Kim, Oklahoma Republican Representative Stephanie Bice and Oregon Democratic Representative Janelle Bynum, among others.  

Spokespersons for Trump and Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., did not respond to requests for comment about whether they are having their salaries withheld during the shutdown. A spokesperson for Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said he is having his paycheck held back.

Congress has voted several times over the years to officially withhold members’ salaries during a shutdown, but none of the bills have ever become law. There have been questions during past funding lapses about whether members’ paychecks could legally be withheld.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office wrote in a letter to Iowa Republican Sen. Joni Ernst just before the shutdown began that member pay “is required by the Constitution and is considered mandatory spending.” 

“Thus, Members of Congress would continue to be paid during a lapse in discretionary appropriations,” CBO Director Phillip L. Swagel wrote. 

That assessment lines up with a report from the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service, updated in August, that says “Members of Congress continue to receive their pay during a lapse in appropriations for a number of reasons.”

The CRS report quotes the Government Accountability Office’s principles of federal appropriations law as saying, “The salary of a Member of Congress is fixed by statute and therefore cannot be waived without specific statutory authority.”

But the report also points out nothing prevents a member of Congress from accepting the salary and then donating all or part of it back to the Treasury.

No options and no paychecks for feds

That same choice isn’t available for the people who work for members of Congress or those at departments and agencies throughout the executive branch. They must go without their paychecks until after Congress and the president broker a deal to fund the government and end the shutdown. 

The Senate was unable to advance multiple bills Thursday that would have provided salaries to some federal employees and contractors during the shutdown. 

States Newsroom is the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.