I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 1973
To reduce the annual rate of pay of Members of Congress if the public
debt limit is reached or a Government shutdown occurs during a year,
and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH10, 2025
Mr. V
INDMAN(for himself and Mr. FITZPATRICK) introduced the following
bill; which was referred to the Committee on House Administration, and
in addition to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, for
a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for
consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the com-
mittee concerned
A BILL
To reduce the annual rate of pay of Members of Congress
if the public debt limit is reached or a Government
shutdown occurs during a year, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘No Pay for Congress 4
During Default or Shutdown Act’’. 5
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SEC. 2. REQUIRING REDUCTION OF PAY OF MEMBERS OF 1
CONGRESS IF PUBLIC DEBT LIMIT IS 2
REACHED. 3
(a) R
EDUCTION OFPAY FOREACHDAY OFGOVERN-4
MENTSHUTDOWN.— 5
(1) I
N GENERAL.—If on any day during a year 6
the public debt limit is reached, the annual rate of 7
pay applicable under section 601(a) of the Legisla-8
tive Reorganization Act of 1946 (2 U.S.C. 4501) 9
with respect to each Member of Congress for the 10
year shall be reduced by an amount equal to the 11
product of— 12
(A) an amount equal to one day’s worth of 13
pay under such annual rate; and 14
(B) the number of 24-hour periods during 15
which the public debt limit is reached. 16
(2) E
FFECTIVE DATE.—This subsection shall 17
apply with respect to days occurring after the date 18
of the regularly scheduled general election for Fed-19
eral office held in November 2026. 20
(b) S
PECIALRULE FOR ONEHUNDREDNINE-21
TEENTHCONGRESS.— 22
(1) H
OLDING SALARIES IN ESCROW .—If on any 23
day during the One Hundred Nineteenth Congress 24
the public debt limit is reached, the payroll adminis-25
trator of that House of Congress shall— 26
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(A) withhold from the payments otherwise 1
required to be made with respect to a pay pe-2
riod for the compensation of each Member of 3
Congress who serves in that House of Congress 4
an amount equal to the product of— 5
(i) an amount equal to one day’s 6
worth of pay under the annual rate of pay 7
applicable to the Member under section 8
601(a) of the Legislative Reorganization 9
Act of 1946 (2 U.S.C. 4501), and 10
(ii) the number of 24-hour periods 11
during which the public debt limit is 12
reached which occur during the pay period; 13
and 14
(B) deposit in an escrow account all 15
amounts withheld under subparagraph (A). 16
(2) R
ELEASE OF AMOUNTS AT END OF THE 17
CONGRESS.—In order to ensure that this subsection 18
is carried out in a manner that shall not vary the 19
compensation of Members of Congress in violation of 20
the twenty-seventh article of amendment to the Con-21
stitution of the United States, the payroll adminis-22
trator of a House of Congress shall release for pay-23
ments to Members of that House of Congress any 24
amounts remaining in any escrow account under this 25
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•HR 1973 IH
subsection on the last day of the One Hundred 1
Nineteenth Congress. 2
(3) E
XCEPTION FOR DAYS OCCURRING AFTER 3
GENERAL ELECTION .—This subsection does not 4
apply with respect to any day during the One Hun-5
dred Nineteenth Congress which occurs after the 6
date of the regularly scheduled general election for 7
Federal office held in November 2026. 8
(c) D
ETERMINATION OFREACHING OFPUBLICDEBT 9
L
IMIT.—For purposes of this section, the public debt limit 10
shall be considered to be reached if the Federal Govern-11
ment is unable to make payments or meet obligations be-12
cause the public debt limit under section 3101 of title 31, 13
United States Code, has been reached. 14
SEC. 3. REQUIRING REDUCTION OF PAY OF MEMBERS OF 15
CONGRESS IF GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN OC-16
CURS. 17
(a) R
EDUCTION OFPAY FOREACHDAY OFGOVERN-18
MENTSHUTDOWN.— 19
(1) I
N GENERAL.—If on any day during a year 20
a Government shutdown is in effect, the annual rate 21
of pay applicable under section 601(a) of the Legis-22
lative Reorganization Act of 1946 (2 U.S.C. 4501) 23
with respect to each Member of Congress for the 24
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year shall be reduced by an amount equal to the 1
product of— 2
(A) an amount equal to one day’s worth of 3
pay under such annual rate; and 4
(B) the number of 24-hour periods during 5
which the Government shutdown is in effect. 6
(2) E
FFECTIVE DATE.—This subsection shall 7
apply with respect to days occurring after the date 8
of the regularly scheduled general election for Fed-9
eral office held in November 2026. 10
(b) S
PECIALRULE FOR ONEHUNDREDNINE-11
TEENTHCONGRESS.— 12
(1) H
OLDING SALARIES IN ESCROW .—If on any 13
day during the One Hundred Nineteenth Congress a 14
Government shutdown is in effect, the payroll ad-15
ministrator of that House of Congress shall— 16
(A) withhold from the payments otherwise 17
required to be made with respect to a pay pe-18
riod for the compensation of each Member of 19
Congress who serves in that House of Congress 20
an amount equal to the product of— 21
(i) an amount equal to one day’s 22
worth of pay under the annual rate of pay 23
applicable to the Member under section 24
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601(a) of the Legislative Reorganization 1
Act of 1946 (2 U.S.C. 4501); and 2
(ii) the number of 24-hour periods 3
during which the Government shutdown is 4
in effect which occur during the pay pe-5
riod; and 6
(B) deposit in an escrow account all 7
amounts withheld under subparagraph (A). 8
(2) R
ELEASE OF AMOUNTS AT END OF THE 9
CONGRESS.—In order to ensure that this subsection 10
is carried out in a manner that shall not vary the 11
compensation of Senators or Representatives in vio-12
lation of the twenty-seventh article of amendment to 13
the Constitution of the United States, the payroll 14
administrator of a House of Congress shall release 15
for payments to Members of that House of Congress 16
any amounts remaining in any escrow account under 17
this subsection on the last day of the One Hundred 18
Nineteenth Congress. 19
(3) E
XCEPTION FOR DAYS OCCURRING AFTER 20
GENERAL ELECTION .—This subsection does not 21
apply with respect to any day during the One Hun-22
dred Nineteenth Congress which occurs after the 23
date of the regularly scheduled general election for 24
Federal office held in November 2026. 25
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(c) DETERMINATION OF GOVERNMENT SHUT-1
DOWN.—For purposes of this section, a Government shut-2
down shall be considered to be in effect if there is a lapse 3
in appropriations for any Federal agency or department 4
as a result of a failure to enact a regular appropriations 5
bill or continuing resolution. 6
SEC. 4. ROLE OF SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY. 7
The Secretary of the Treasury shall provide the pay-8
roll administrators of the Houses of Congress with such 9
assistance as may be necessary to enable the payroll ad-10
ministrators to carry out this Act. 11
SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS. 12
(a) M
EMBER OFCONGRESS.—In this Act, the term 13
‘‘Member of Congress’’ means an individual serving in a 14
position under subparagraph (A), (B), or (C) of section 15
601(a) of the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946 (2 16
U.S.C. 4501). 17
(b) P
AYROLLADMINISTRATOR.—In this Act, the 18
‘‘payroll administrator’’ of a House of Congress means— 19
(1) in the case of the House of Representatives, 20
the Chief Administrative Officer of the House of 21
Representatives, or an employee of the Office of the 22
Chief Administrative Officer who is designated by 23
the Chief Administrative Officer to carry out this 24
Act; and 25
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(2) in the case of the Senate, the Secretary of 1
the Senate, or an employee of the Office of the Sec-2
retary of the Senate who is designated by the Sec-3
retary to carry out this Act. 4
Æ
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