WASHINGTON — Millions of federal workers won't get paid during a government shutdown. But the people who could prevent or end a shutdown — members of Congress — will still receive a paycheck.
That’s because their pay is protected under Article I, Section 6 of the Constitution, which states: “The Senators and Representatives shall receive a Compensation for their Services, to be ascertained by Law, and paid out of the Treasury of the United States.”
The Constitution “says members will be paid,” Rep. Joe Morelle of New York, the top Democrat on the House Administration Committee, explained to reporters Tuesday.
Some lawmakers don’t like that practice — or the optics of it.
Sen. Andy Kim, D-N.J., is one of a handful of lawmakers asking that their paycheck be withheld during the shutdown.
“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 get paid during a funding lapse. President Donald Trump donated his government salary during his first term and said he’s doing the same this time as well.
In a letter to the head of the Senate Disbursing Office, Kim formally requested that his paycheck be withheld until the government reopens. Across the Capitol, Rep. Kat Cammack, R-Fla., made a similar request in a letter Tuesday to the House’s chief administrator that she shared on X.
“The Democrats want to shut down the government because we won’t give them free healthcare for illegals. On top of that, they won’t even pass a bill that protects our military or border patrol agents pay in the event of a shutdown!” she wrote on X. “So let’s see if they are willing to give up their pay as well; I’ll start.”
Democratic leaders have disputed that they want to give undocumented immigrants free health care, calling that a lie. In their funding proposal, Democrats are pushing to extend Affordable Care Act subsidies that expire at the end of the calendar year and roll back cuts and changes to Medicaid enacted in Trump’s “big, beautiful bill.”
“If our service members and federal workers won’t get paid because of Trump and far-right extremists, Members of Congress shouldn’t either,” Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., posted on X on Tuesday. “I’ll keep fighting to lower health care costs and work across the aisle to keep the government open.”
Some lawmakers said they can’t afford missing a pay period.
“I’m not wealthy, and I have three kids. I would basically be missing, you know, mortgage payments, rent payments, child support,” Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., told NBC News. “So it’s not feasible, not gonna happen.”
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Most members of Congress receive a salary of $174,000; lawmakers in the top leadership posts receive more.
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While most federal workers will be furloughed and sent home during a shutdown, active-duty service members will still need to show up for work without getting paid. The same goes for so-called excepted or essential civilian workers.
That includes people like air traffic controllers and Transportation Security Administration agents, who help ensure public safety and national security.
In previous shutdowns, employees at intelligence agencies typically have been treated as essential workers and were required to continue to report to work.
But according to internal policy guidance for the Defense Department obtained by NBC News, employees working on intelligence that is not directly related to current or planned military operations, such as political and economic intelligence, will not be required to report to work and are not in the “excepted” category of federal workers.
Under the Pentagon contingency plan, employees working on intelligence activities deemed essential for national security will continue to report to work.
Because of a law Congress passed in 2019, federal employees — including legislative branch employees — are guaranteed to receive back pay following a shutdown, regardless of if they were in furlough status.
At the Department of Homeland Security, most Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement employees will not be paid during the shutdown, but they will still be required to work, DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said.
Roughly 150,000 employees from CBP, ICE and the U.S. Secret Service will be affected by the shutdown, as well as about 47,000 U.S. Coast Guard employees.
