Sponsors
The bill uses Member pay withholding and an explicit shutdown definition to create financial pressure to avoid government shutdowns, trading off potential reductions in service disruptions for fairness concerns for individual Members, administrative costs, and the risk that ideological motives could still produce shutdowns.
Taxpayers and the public who rely on federal services — shutdowns are more likely to be shorter or less frequent because Members' pay is reduced/withheld for shutdown days, creating a financial incentive to avoid shutdowns.
Members of Congress — pay will be withheld or reduced during shutdown periods, creating immediate political and financial pressure to resolve funding impasses.
Federal employees and agencies — the bill provides a clear, uniform legal definition of a 'government shutdown', reducing ambiguity about when shutdown rules apply.
Taxpayers and the public — the pay penalties may still fail to stop shutdowns driven by ideological or electoral motives, so Americans could continue to face service disruptions and costs despite the law.
Members of Congress — some will lose pay during shutdowns even if they are not responsible for the impasse, causing short-term cash‑flow strain and raising fairness concerns.
House and Senate payroll offices and Treasury — implementing withholding, escrow, tracking, and later disbursement creates administrative burdens and costs for payroll systems and the Treasury.
Based on analysis of 5 sections of legislative text.
Reduces each Member of Congress’s pay by one day's pay for every 24‑hour government shutdown day, with withholding and escrow rules; applies only to shutdown days after the Nov. 2026 election.
Introduced October 3, 2025 by Angela Craig · Last progress October 3, 2025
Reduces each Member of Congress’s pay by one day’s pay for every 24‑hour period a federal government shutdown is in effect, but only for shutdown days that occur after the regularly scheduled November 2026 general election. During the 119th Congress, House and Senate payroll offices must withhold the calculated amounts and place them in an escrow account, with the Treasury assisting; any remaining escrowed funds would be released to Members on the last day of the 119th Congress to avoid violating the Twenty‑Seventh Amendment. The law defines “government shutdown” as a lapse in appropriations due to failure to pass appropriations bills or a continuing resolution and uses the existing statutory annual pay rate as the basis for the per‑day calculation.