Credit Blue Hog Report, too, for exposing Republican U.S. Rep. French Hill’s political grandstanding in announcing he’d refuse pay during the government shutdown.
Author Matt Campbell notes that the U.S. Constitution mandates payment, a fact of which Donald Trump was informed when he talked about refusing a presidential salary.
Campbell wrote before the shutdown was resolved:
I have already seen some folks saying that the Constitution allows Congress to ask that their pay be withheld. I have no idea where this belief comes from; the Constitution is clear that they must be paid, though (I suppose) the lack of specified intervals for pay might provide some wiggle room. Regardless, “withhold my pay” is a damn sight different from not receiving the pay at all. At most, if he can have it withheld, Hill–who certainly doesn’t rely solely on the Congressional paycheck to make ends meet–is merely delaying when he will receive the same amount of money.
The government workers who are not able to work right now because of the shutdown won’t later receive the money they missed out on. So Hill and his ilk can cause this problem and they still must be paid, while regular government workers, through no fault of their own, are out of luck unless and until Hill and the rest actually govern.