Senate passes GOP resolution to suspend senators' pay during government shutdowns

The Senate unanimously approved a resolution on Wednesday sponsored by Senator John Kennedy that will suspend senators' pay during a government shutdown. Since the resolution only applies to the Senate, it only needs the approval of the chamber and does not need to be voted on by the House or signed by President Donald Trump.

The resolution takes effect after the midterm election and was passed by voice vote on the floor. With the resolution passed, it would apply to a potential end-of-year government shutdown, but not before Sept. 30, which is the end of the fiscal year.

The resolution states: "During any period in which a Government shutdown is in effect, the Secretary of the Senate shall disburse and hold any payments otherwise required to be made with respect to such period for the compensation of each Senator."

"The Secretary of the Senate shall release to each Senator any payments held under paragraph with respect to a Government shutdown as soon as practicable after the date on which the Government shutdown ends," the bill text adds, then notes that the bill will only go into effect after the midterm elections.

Commenting on the resolution, Kennedy said, “This is about shared sacrifice. If senators are going to vote to shut down the government and prevent millions of federal workers from getting paid, they ought to have the same skin in the game. My resolution will ensure that senators aren’t the only people receiving their paychecks during a government shutdown."

The resolution comes after a months-long partial government shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security as Democrat lawmakers were attempting to push through reforms of ICE and withhold funding from the agency, as well as Border Patrol, over the past few months.