Members of Congress are still paid during a shutdown, but a lot have said they will refuse their pay or donate it to charity for the duration of the shutdown. My state's senators have both refused and some of our members of the House have, but not all of them.
Have your state's senators and representatives refused their pay?
wonderful clementine / 24134 posts
I really don't understand how all of them haven't stepped up and done this.
bananas / 9118 posts
Nice to see this! Only one rep in my state has so far, I'm not surprised by him, he's a quality guy. I had expected one other, but she hasn't announced it yet, I'm a little disappointed by that. I have zero expectations for any others doing it. We have a lot of jackasses.
watermelon / 14467 posts
At least one of our senators has, but in the same breath he blames democrats for causing the shutdown. It's hard to know if he's doing it for the right reasons or on the hope that he will be re-elected. Regardless, it was good to see.
pomelo / 5820 posts
One senator and two representatives have declined pay in my state. The representative for my district has not, however. Makes me not want to vote for him in the future!
hostess / watermelon / 14932 posts
both reps said they will donate to charity if the federal workers aren't reimbursed backpay.
both senators said they will forgo payment if fed workers aren't back paid as well.
blogger / pineapple / 12381 posts
Guess who hasn't? Oh that's right, my senator Mike Lee who helped get us into this whole mess. At least Orrin hatch, Jim Matheson and Jason chaffitz did.
coconut / 8305 posts
Both Senators and a handful of Reps have either refused pay or chosen charities to donate it too.... I do think it's funny that one of our Dem reps called out one of our Senator's on "not refusing" his pay, yet he had already said he would refuse his pay and has chosen the charity he is donating to. lol
wonderful pomelo / 30692 posts
Both my state's senators are donating their salaries, but I don't know what our reps are doing. 
Here's another good source to find out what your senators and reps are doing:
The article has this quote that makes me angry:
"I need my paycheck. That’s the bottom line,” Rep. Renee Ellmers, (R-North Carolina) told North Carolina station WTVD in a phone interview. “I understand that maybe there are members who are deferring their paychecks and that's admirable," said Ellmers. "I'm not in that position."
What about the 800,000 federal workers who don't have a choice? Of course, I have no idea how Ellmers voted or what her stance on the whole situation is.
squash / 13199 posts
Its nice of them to do that, but how does that help the people that don't have a choice and cant afford to go without their paycheck. What are the republicans in the house waiting for to end this shutdown nonsense?
wonderful pea / 17279 posts
@Adira: tsk, tsk at Rep Ellmers. I would love to know if she voted for the CR with the ACA defunding attached to it.
wonderful pomelo / 30692 posts
@Mrs. Lemon-Lime: Yeah, I wish I knew how she voted too! If she was against the ACA defunding being attached, then I guess I can't really blame her.
coconut / 8305 posts
@Adira: @Mrs. Lemon-Lime: I think you can see her voting history here: http://www.opencongress.org/people/voting_history/412457_Renee_Ellmers
Not sure how far back you'd have to go, but from what I could gather, it should be in there somewhere. 
eggplant / 11824 posts
@Mrs. Lemon-Lime: @Adira: She's in the House (R majority) and voted to defund "Obamacare" but to keep the government open. When the proposals were then sent to the Senate (D majority), the Senate refused to pass any bill that included delay/defunding of the ACA. The House kept proposing bills that chipped away at the ACA, and the Senate refused to pass them. So, she's in favor of getting rid of the ACA and has voted that way, along party lines.
Fun facts about Ellmers: She was endorsed by Sarah Palin, and "received national media attention in September (2010) when she released a television ad condemning the Park51 community center in Manhattan, and Congressman Etheridge for not voicing an opinion on the subject. The ad was criticized as "the most baldly anti-Muslim ad of the year" by Salon and "bigotry" by a writer for the Washington Post." 
klassy.
watermelon / 14206 posts
Looks like a lot of them from NC and SC are not taking their pay. More NC, though.
wonderful pea / 17279 posts
@yoursilverlining: she IS part of the problem. Shame on her! What does she think all of those other federal employees don't need their paycheck too?
GOLD / wonderful pea / 17697 posts
One of our Senators is refusing his, the other hasn't made a statement about it, nor has my Rep.
@Adira: @yoursilverlining: That quote makes my blood boil. It's all fine and dandy to take away other peoples' paychecks, whether they're being required to work or not (thank you Capitol Police, thank you FEMA, thank you everyone else who has to work without pay...) but it's just not even a question when it comes to your own pay.
One would think that Ms Ellmers would recognize that if she "needs" her 6-digit paycheck that she's getting for doing not much of anything that other people NEED theirs too, but that would require her (and many others) to have even an ounce of empathy.
The arrogance and hypocrisy would be breath-taking if it didn't piss me off so much.
persimmon / 1328 posts
Is it just me, or is anyone else wary of those who have decided to donate their salary during this time to charity? While I think it is great and that those charities could definitely use the money, charity donations get you tax breaks. So it seems like they will get some of their pay back anyway. But that could just be me being cynical.
blogger / pineapple / 12381 posts
@MrsScallop: I think it's fair to be cynical in this case!
blogger / pomelo / 5361 posts
@Adira: @lovehoneybee: @yoursilverlining: I saw that article. As a two-government income family who will both be working without pay as of next week, I cannot express how livid this made me. Oh, YOU need your paycheck, huh? That makes it all better because obviously none of us need our paychecks. My bad.
Grrrr!
@Mrsbells: it doesn't help us, but it makes me less enraged at them that they at least recognize the position that they have put others in and will make a showing of living (theoretically) without their income as long as we are doing so.
wonderful clementine / 24134 posts
Just curious, are any of you going to contact your local offices to voice your opinions?
blogger / pineapple / 12381 posts
@T.H.O.U.: I have been contacting my locals and have been contacting boehner's office.
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