House committee considers bill to bar members’ pay during funding lapses

The House Committee on House Administration opened its session to take up H.R. 5891, the Withhold Member Pay During Shutdown Act, which the committee chair said would bar members of Congress from collecting pay during a lapse in appropriations.

The chair framed the bill as a response to recent funding disruptions, saying the shutdown last fall was the longest in history and that the Department of Homeland Security had "not been funded since Feb. 14" and that "it’s been 32 days since TSA agents have been fully and properly compensated," according to his remarks.

The chair criticized Senate negotiators in his remarks, saying, "Schumer and Democrats in the Senate are playing politics with DHS funding," and argued H.R. 5891 would begin to address what he called a broken spending process. "The bill ensures that no members collect a paycheck, while hardworking federal employees are being forced to work without their pay," he said.

Committee discussion during the portion of the meeting recorded in the transcript was introductory; the chair thanked colleagues for feedback and said he looked forward to further discussion later in the session. The transcript does not record any vote or formal amendment on H.R. 5891 in the recorded segments.

The meeting also included introductions of other items on the agenda, including H.R. 1329, the Smithsonian American Women’s History Act, and an announcement that H.R. 6028 would be pulled for revision and returned later. The chair indicated the committee would continue deliberations on these proposals.