Senators Vote To Nix Their Own Pay During Shutdowns

Senators unanimously voted Thursday for Republican Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy’s resolution to withhold their paychecks during government shutdowns.

The Senate adopted the measure in a 99-0 voice vote, which allows senators to receive backpay only after a government shutdown ends. The resolution only impacts the Senate and would not prevent members of the House or other government workers from getting paid.

The chamber voted to advance the resolution Wednesday. Republican Nebraska Sen. Pete Ricketts did not vote on the resolution.

Kennedy said that if other government workers cannot get paid, then neither should the Senate.

“It’s about shared sacrifice,” Kennedy said on the House floor. “I mean, what we have done this year in terms of keeping government open. Last October, I looked it up before coming to the floor, last October, we shut the government [for] 43 days. It’s the longest shutdown in history. And we had FBI agents and national park rangers and CDC scientists, our staffers here in Congress, nobody was getting paid … We ought to had our heads in a bag. It’s gotta stop. Shutting down the government should not be our default solution to our refusal to work out our issues and our differences.” 

My resolution to stop senators’ pay during government shutdowns cleared a key procedural vote today, moving it one step closer to final passage.

Fair-minded Americans know senators should feel the pain of a shutdown with the American people. pic.twitter.com/hI7maEtaIM

— John Kennedy (@SenJohnKennedy) May 13, 2026

The resolution will not take effect until the day after the midterm elections, which complies with the 27th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

All except three Democrats voted for a government shutdown on Oct. 1, 2025, that lasted 43 days, marking the longest shutdown in U.S. history. Democratic Sens. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada and independent Sen. Angus King of Maine were the only members of their caucus to vote in favor of the stopgap funding bill that would have kept the government open through Nov. 21, 2025.

Democrats claimed they shut down the government because the funding bill did not include an extension of Affordable Care Act subsidies passed during former President Joe Biden’s administration. Republicans argued that Democrats shut down the government because they wanted to hand out Medicaid services to illegal aliens.

Congress shut down the Department of Homeland Security on Feb. 14, lasting for a record 76 days. The shutdown caused staffers for the Coast Guard, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Transportation Security Administration to work without paychecks, causing long lines and flight delays at airports.

The partial shutdown happened due to lawmakers’ disagreements over reforms to Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection. Democrats released a list of ten primary demands for reforms, including requiring ICE agents to obtain a warrant before entering private property and prohibiting agents from wearing masks.