Politics

‘I’m Not Wealthy’: Democrat Refuses To Forgo Pay During Shutdown As His Own Staff Goes Unpaid

(U.S. House of Representatives / Wikimedia Commons)

Democrats drove the federal government into a shutdown at 12:01 am Wednesday after blocking a GOP spending bill, but at least one Democratic lawmaker says he won’t be giving up his paycheck.

Roughly 750,000 employees will be furloughed during the shutdown, according to the Congressional Budget Office. But Democrat Sen. Ruben Gallego of Arizona told NBC News that he won’t forgo his $174,000 congressional salary, which lawmakers continue to collect during shutdowns under Article I, Section 6 of the Constitution.

“I’m not wealthy and I have three kids. I would basically be missing, you know, mortgage payments, rent payments, child support,” Gallego told NBC News. “So it’s not feasible, not gonna happen.”

Congressional staffers are not paid during the funding lapse, though they will receive back pay once the government reopens.

We will be voting shortly on the latest spending deal but before we do, I have submitted an official request asking for my paycheck to be withheld in the event of a government shutdown. If the troops don’t get paid, Members of Congress shouldn’t either. pic.twitter.com/9B2rbAGEVW

— Kat Cammack (@Kat_Cammack) December 20, 2024

“By Republicans’ theory, all Republicans should give up their health care since they’re hellbent on cutting health care for millions of Americans. Senator Gallego, like nearly all Americans, relies on his salary to raise his kids, and won’t participate in this bad-faith Republican virtue-signaling,” a spokesperson for Gallego told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “Instead, the GOP should come back to DC instead of fleeing to avoid voting on releasing the Epstein files and raising health care costs on millions of Americans. Anything else is a distraction.”

The Arizona senator’s stance stands in contrast to a growing list of lawmakers asking that their pay be withheld in solidarity with furloughed workers. Republicans, including Reps. Kat Cammack of Florida, Chip Roy and Keith Self of Texas have all formally requested that their paychecks be withheld until the government reopens.

“All members of Congress — including those most responsible for this shutdown (Senate Democrats) — should do the same,” Self wrote on X.

Some Democrats, including Sen. Andy Kim of New Jersey, have joined in.

“It’s wrong that the President and Members of Congress get paid during a government shutdown when our military and public servants don’t,” Kim said in a statement Tuesday. “I will be refusing my own pay if we end up in a shutdown. Government leaders shouldn’t be playing with other people’s chips.”

Presidents also continue to receive their paycheck during funding lapses, but President Donald Trump has said he will donate his government salary during the shutdown, according to NBC News.

Democrats are refusing to approve government spending unless an extension of a pandemic-era Obamacare premium subsidy — projected to cost $350 billion over the next decade — is included in the bill. On Wednesday, Senate Democrats again blocked bills to fund the government,

Meanwhile, 65% of Americans said Democrats should not shut down the government even if “their demands are not met,” according to a New York Times/Siena University poll released Tuesday.