Some Florida members of Congress say they’ll go without pay during shutdown

Credit: Official White House photo by Joyce N. Boghosian

While U.S. service members, law enforcement officials, and other government employees are no longer getting paid with the federal government shutting down, some Florida Republicans said Wednesday that they’ll have their pay withheld or, in some cases, donate it to worthy organizations.

“Each day the government remains closed, I will be donating my salary to the Crisis Center of Tampa Bay which provides help to vulnerable populations who may be impacted by this reckless choice,” U.S. Sen. Ashley Moody said in a written statement.

The center provides social services for sexual assault survivors, veterans, and first responders struggling with PTSD and other mental-health challenges.

U.S. Reps. Kat Cammack from Gainesville and Gus Bilirakis from Pasco County said that they have formally requested that the Office of the Chief Administrative Officer withhold their congressional pay for the duration of the shutdown.

“If the military is not getting paid, members of Congress should not be getting paid,” Cammack said Tuesday night in a video posted to her X account. “It is the very least that members of Congress can do when other people, especially when our military and our Border Patrol, the Democrats want to withhold their pay, well, they need to do the same then.”

“Government shutdowns are costly, disruptive, and ultimately unproductive,” Bilirakis said in a written statement. “It is unacceptable for Members of Congress to receive a paycheck while dedicated federal workers — including members of our Armed Services — go without.”

Members of Congress get paid $174,000, a rate that hasn’t changed since 2009. They continue to receive funding during a shutdown per the U.S. Constitution. Article I, Section 6 of the Constitution says: “The Senators and Representatives shall receive a Compensation for their Services, to be ascertained by Law, and paid out of the Treasury of the United States.”

Florida’s other U.S. Sen., Rick Scott, sponsored legislation in 2019 — his first year in the Senate — to prevent Congress from getting paid during government shutdowns. He doubled down on that proposal during an appearance on “Fox and Friends” on Wednesday morning.

“If you didn’t do your job in business, you didn’t get paid,” he said. “If you don’t show up in your job, you don’t get paid. Why are we getting paid? We shouldn’t get paid if we don’t do our job.”

Multiple news sources have listed Scott as the richest member of Congress worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Meanwhile, some federal lawmakers say they can’t afford to have their paycheck withheld.

“I’m not wealthy, and I have three kids. I would basically be missing, you know, mortgage payments, rent payments, child support,” Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., told NBC News. “So it’s not feasible, not gonna happen.”

About 750,000 federal employees could be furloughed during a government shutdown, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

The Phoenix will update this page if we learn of other members of Florida’s congressional delegation who are withholding their pay during the government shutdown.

Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Contact Michael Moline for questions: [email protected]. Follow Florida Phoenix on Facebook and Twitter.

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