U.S. Senator Katie Britt, R-Alabama, chair of the Senate Appropriations Homeland Security Subcommittee, spoke on the Senate floor Friday and called for passage of legislation that would prevent members of Congress from receiving paychecks during government shutdowns. Britt voiced support for Senator John Kennedy’s, R-Louisiana, No Shutdown Paychecks to Politicians Act.
Britt said, “I think that if we are going to go and sit here for how many days is it … 48 days … people without paychecks… [W]hat Senator Kennedy’s bill says is that if there are people who have stepped up to serve our government in any capacity that are not getting a paycheck as a result of this body not doing its job, then we shouldn’t get one either. I think that’s pretty common sense. I can promise you that if the staff in this building, if the men and women in this building, if members of Congress … weren’t getting a paycheck right now, they’d be much more eager to … have a conversation and to figure out a pathway forward … If there are men and women who have stepped up to serve, in this instance the Department of Homeland Security … to keep American citizens safe … [A]nd they are not getting a paycheck. If they’re not getting one, we shouldn’t be either.”
