A Senate Republican wants to ensure that lawmakers feel the pain in their wallets as the federal government shutdown drags on.<\/p>\n
Members of Congress, unlike other federal employees, are guaranteed to get paid during a government shutdown. But Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, wants to impose a tax on lawmakers that would eat away at their paychecks.<\/p>\n
Moreno plans to introduce the Stop Holding Up Taxpayers, Deny Wages On Washington\u2019s Negligence (SHUTDOWN) Act, which would create a new tax specifically for lawmakers.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The shutdown has trudged on to a third day with no clear off-ramp in sight. The Senate is again set to vote on the GOP\u2019s short-term funding extension on Friday, but Senate Democrats are again expected to block it.<\/p>\n
‘Democrats like Hakeem Jeffries want to get paid for shutting the government down,’ Moreno said in a statement to Fox News Digital. ‘That\u2019s ridiculous. If Congress can\u2019t do the bare minimum, we don\u2019t deserve a paycheck.’<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Members of Congress on average make $174,000 a year. That number can fluctuate depending on whether a lawmaker is in a leadership position. Preventing lawmakers from getting paid during a shutdown is tricky, however, given that the U.S. Constitution requires them to receive a paycheck even if the government is closed.<\/p>\n
Article I, Section 6 of the Constitution requires that ‘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.’<\/p>\n
Then there is the 27th Amendment, which was ratified in the 1992, that prevents Congress from passing a law affecting its pay during the current congressional term.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Moreno\u2019s bill could circumvent those guardrails by imposing a daily tax on lawmakers that would rise each day that members are in session and that a shutdown continues.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the likelihood that the shutdown ends this week is low. Senate Democrats, led by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., are firmly rooted in their position that unless a deal is struck on expiring Obamacare tax credits, they\u2019ll continue to block the GOP\u2019s continuing resolution (CR).<\/p>\n
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., plans to keep bringing the same bill, which the House passed last week, in a bid to chip away at Senate Democrats. So far, only three members of the Democratic caucus \u2014 Sens. John Fetterman, D-Pa., Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., and Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, joined Republicans to vote for the bill. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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