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Committee backs bill to withhold members' pay during shutdowns
Summary
The House Committee on Administration voted to report H.R.5891, a bill that would prohibit Members of Congress from collecting pay during lapses in appropriations, after members debated the measure's fairness to unpaid federal employees and its role in fixing the spending process.
The House Committee on Administration voted to report H.R.5891, the Withhold Member Pay During Shutdowns Act, to the full House after adopting an amendment in the nature of a substitute and a roll-call vote that the clerk recorded as nine ayes and zero nays.
The bill, as described by the committee chair, would bar members of Congress from receiving pay during a lapse in appropriations. The chair framed the legislation as a response to federal workers—particularly Department of Homeland Security employees and TSA agents—who have been required to work without pay during funding gaps. "This bill makes clear your Member of Congress will not receive a paycheck if hard working men and women in the federal government are required to show up for work and not get paid," the chair said.
Ranking Member Mr. Morelli said he supported the measure and framed it as one element of a broader need to strengthen congressional capacity, arguing that Congress needs more legislative attorneys and subject-matter expertise to craft technically precise laws. "I support the measure," Morelli said, while also warning about constitutional and procedural limits on how pay and appropriations interact.
Several members used their time to describe the human impacts of shutdowns on TSA employees and other DHS personnel, citing long lines at airports and workers taking second jobs or sleeping in cars to make flights. The committee record notes the chair's description that DHS had not been funded since February 14 and that some TSA employees had missed paychecks; the transcript uses those dates and counts as the basis for the chair's urgency.
The committee adopted the amendment in the nature of a substitute and ordered H.R.5891 reported favorably to the House. The clerk reported the tally for the reporting motion as nine ayes and zero nays; the committee chair announced the bill is ordered favorably reported and a motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
Next steps: H.R.5891, as reported by the committee, will be placed on the House calendar for further consideration by the full House.
