Share.

36 Comments

  1. vthemechanicv on

    congress has reviewed the petition, and decided no, they won’t be docking their own pay.

  2. forthewatch39 on

    It’s a good idea, but kind of an empty gesture for many of them who are already wealthy and make money elsewhere. 

  3. Salmonberry234 on

    This only affects the few actual middle class Representatives. The millionaires who are the problem are not going to be affected.

  4. KulaanDoDinok on

    The only people that will be affected by this are the good politicians. The corrupt ones aren’t relying on their congressional salaries to survive. Y’all gotta think beyond your gut instinct.

  5. Physical_Gift7572 on

    I like this idea on first thought but then I think it could be weaponized. It would mean that the rich can hold out while the non-rich need to give in in order to get paid. It could have serious ramifications.

  6. TBH, I don’t think that would nearly as useful an incentive as declaring the Congress has to stay in session, twelve hours a day, seven days a week, until the shutdown is resolved. Nobody leaves town, and no press conferences.

  7. We should make these people in power lose pay when they shut the government down. No back pay. No furlough. Nothing!! Take away theirs and they’ll stop trying to take away ours!!

  8. I have a better proposal, 100% capital gains tax for congress members during a government shutdown.

  9. Not sure I agree with this petition. On first glance it’s great but that would give a lot of leverage to rich members of congress over those who rely on their salary. I prefer a no-confidence motion similar to the uk that forces an election for all if the government can’t pass a spending plan. That would be a better and more equal incentive to not play stupid games.

  10. Instead of docking them pay, they should be forced to sell all their stock and pay capital gains (not that they should be allowed to have it anyway)

  11. That incentivizes more corruption since this only effects congressmen playing by the rules.

  12. WildlySkeptical on

    Better yet, why dont we just codify the eliminations of shutdowns altogether, so that everyone still gets paid.

    This can all be solved by it being that law that if there is no new budget agreed upon by 1 October, the gov automatically defaults to the most recently agreed upon budget. It really is that simple, but these shitbag politicians would rather use the citizens as pawns at our own expense.

  13. Fit-Significance-436 on

    This is a cute idea, but let’s be honest, they make all their money grifting, trading on insider info and living free on taxpayer dime.

  14. Fit-Significance-436 on

    This is a cute idea, but let’s be honest, they most make their money grifting, trading on insider info and living free on taxpayer dime.

  15. usernamescifi on

    Can we also strip them and other elected/appointed members of the federal government of their free healthcare as well? 

    If we should all have to pay for our own healthcare, then so should they. 

  16. This is a great example of something that sounds like a solution, but, in reality, only makes things worse.

    This only punishes congressmen who aren’t on the take.

  17. it would require a constiutional amendment. which im in favor of. my idea would be if the government shuts down congressmen lose 3x their salary for the shutdown

  18. It’s really way too hard for representatives to lose their jobs. Failure to pass a budget should be grounds for snap elections. People who lose their seats *automatically* stop getting paid and a new slate of representatives might be more reasonable.

  19. DreariestComa on

    I upvoted, but thought for a second that if this were the case, the winner would be decided by who has the largest pocketbook, who can go without pay the longest, instead of perhaps a group or party that refuses to fund a government that no longer serves their constituents.

    I hope people read this, I hope they point out where I’m wrong, or if I’m right, that they’d consider how dangerous that case would be.

  20. Who cares about their pay. Put them all up for reelection whenever there is a shutdown. They clearly can’t do their job

  21. Include any benefits, access to their offices, any use of government facilities, and any use of government electronics. No security team or drivers.

  22. This is a terrible idea and will hurt the honest ones the most. Personally, I don’t think Congress should be able to take money before, after, or during from 3rd parties for any work they did while they were serving the people.

  23. This feels like something that could easily get some solid bipartisan support, at least amongst voters :). Perhaps even throw some financial penalties in there – sure, sounds extreme, but something has to change in terms of disincentivizing the kind of showmanship that occurs in politics (especially during shutdowns) and better incentivizing actual problem solving.

  24. It wouldnt even hurt them…

    Their salary is the smallest portion of their wealth accumulation in office.

    Ban trading for Congress and it will actually rattle some cages.

Leave A Reply