The U.S. Senate unanimously passed a resolution sponsored by Senator John Kennedy, a Louisiana Republican, that will withhold senators’ own pay during future government shutdowns, with the change taking effect after the November 2026 midterm elections.
The resolution cleared a procedural hurdle by a vote of 99-0 before passing by voice vote. Under its terms, the secretary of the Senate will place senators’ salaries on hold whenever a shutdown affects one or more federal agencies, releasing the backpay only once funding is restored. The measure applies solely to the Senate and does not require House passage or the president’s signature.
Kennedy had pushed the idea since November 2025, during a shutdown that stretched 43 days between October 2025 and January, which he has called the longest in history. “This is about shared sacrifice,” Kennedy said. “If senators are going to vote to shut down the government and prevent millions of federal workers from getting paid, they ought to have the same skin in the game.” In a separate floor speech, he added, “Shutting down government should not be our default solution to our refusal to work out our issues and our differences.”
Senator Roger Marshall of Kansas, a Republican, called the measure a way to “put pressure” on colleagues to avoid future shutdowns. The vote comes after the federal government was in a full or partial shutdown for more than 119 days between October 1, 2025, and May 1, 2026, a period during which members of Congress continued to receive full pay while federal employees missed paychecks. A separate, broader bill backed by Senator John Cornyn of Texas that would apply the same pay freeze to the House was blocked earlier this year by Senate Democrats.
