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Has Congress passed a law to withhold its own pay during a government shutdown?
Executive Summary
Congress has not passed a law that withholds members’ pay during a government shutdown; multiple proposals have been introduced but none became law as of early November 2025. Recent bills from Republican lawmakers — including Senator John Kennedy’s and Representative Bryan Steil’s measures and Senator Rick Scott’s earlier push — have attracted attention but were not enacted, and longstanding funding and constitutional rules continue to complicate immediate changes [1] [2] [3] [4]. The question often resurfaces during shutdowns because lawmakers’ pay is largely insulated by a combination of permanent appropriations and constitutional protections, and proposals to change that face legal, procedural, and political obstacles [4] [5].
1. Why the claim spread: politics, posture, and public outrage
The headline claim — that Congress passed a law to withhold its own pay during a shutdown — circulates because politicians use it as a talking point to signal toughness and to shift public frustration toward opponents. Multiple news and press accounts from early November 2025 document introduced measures framed as “No Shutdown Pay” or “Withhold Member Pay,” notably by Senator John Kennedy and Representative Bryan Steil, but these were bills introduced, not statutes enacted [1] [2]. Political actors including Senator Rick Scott have pushed “No Budget, No Pay” concepts, but those efforts were blocked in the Senate in November 2025, showing the claim’s roots lie in partisan maneuvering rather than changed law [3] [6]. The messaging value of promising to forgo pay during a shutdown is high, but the legislative reality is more constrained and legally complex [7].
2. The legal and budgetary roadblocks that matter
Two practical obstacles explain why Congress hasn’t simply stopped its pay during shutdowns. First, lawmakers’ salaries are funded by a permanent appropriation created in 1983, which means the routine mechanism that halts other pay during a lapse in appropriations does not automatically apply to Members’ compensation [4]. Second, the U.S. Constitution’s 27th Amendment prevents changes in congressional compensation from taking effect until after the next House election, which creates a timing problem for any immediate-withholding scheme and raises potential constitutional challenges to retroactive or immediate pay cuts proposed in late 2025 [5]. Together, these budgetary and constitutional constraints mean that even sincere legislative proposals face uphill legal and procedural fights before they could become effective.
3. What the recent bills actually propose and where they stand
The legislative activity in fall 2025 involved a mix of proposals with overlapping aims but differing mechanics. Senator Kennedy introduced the “No Shutdown Paychecks to Politicians Act” and a similar bill to withhold pay during shutdowns; Representative Steil offered the “Withhold Member Pay During Shutdowns Act”; Senator Rick Scott renewed “No Budget, No Pay” arguments previously blocked by Senate Democrats [1] [2] [3]. These proposals vary in whether they would withhold pay only for voting members, tie pay to passage of appropriations, or attempt to reassign pay authority. None of these bills had cleared both chambers or been signed into law as of the early November 2025 reporting cited, leaving them as reforms in search of the votes and legal vetting necessary for enactment [1] [7].
4. Competing viewpoints: reformers, defenders, and legal skeptics
Supporters frame withholding pay as a common-sense accountability measure that aligns lawmakers’ incentives with avoiding shutdowns; framers of the bills emphasized fairness to furloughed federal workers and political pressure on holdouts [2] [3]. Opponents and legal scholars argue that practical and constitutional issues make immediate implementation unworkable, noting the 27th Amendment and the permanent appropriation mechanism as barriers that could render such laws ineffective or vulnerable to court challenge [5] [4]. Party leaders who blocked measures in November 2025 cited procedural objections and broader legislative strategy, suggesting some opposition is tactical rather than purely principled [6].
5. Bottom line and the path forward
The bottom line is clear: as of the early November 2025 reporting in these sources, Congress has not enacted a law that withholds members’ pay during a government shutdown; lawmakers continue to introduce bills and debate options, but legal constraints and political divisions persist [1] [4]. Fixing the discrepancy between public expectations and legal reality would require either careful statutory design that respects the 27th Amendment and funding rules or constitutional changes — both slow processes that explain why the political promise to stop congressional pay during shutdowns has not yet produced binding law [5] [7].