Fitzpatrick urges fellow reps to 'put your money where your mouth is' and refuse pay during shutdown

As the entire country handles a federal government shutdown, many are left to ask, “Do our representatives still get paid during the shutdown?” And the overarching answer is, “Yes.”

However, some Congresspersons are taking it upon themselves to actually ask that they not be paid while appropriations are still being debated. Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA1) said that others should follow his lead and “put your money where your mouth is.”

Fitzpatrick took to public social media pages Wednesday to share his own letter to Chief Administrative Officer Catherine L. Szpindor in Washington, D.C.

    Credit: Brian Fitzpatrick/Facebook
  

“I have been informed that, despite a lapse of appropriations and amidst a current government shutdown, Members of Congress will continue receiving their salary,” wrote Fitzpatrick. “I will not be doing so.”

The Congressman of the state’s District One, encompassing Bucks County and portions of northeastern Montgomery County, went on to ask that any financial pay be withheld during the shutdown.

“Please withhold any and all payments to me for the entire duration of any lapse in government funding,” he wrote.

Fitzpatrick asked others to do the same.

“I urge all of my colleagues to follow our lead and inform the House Administrative Officer that no Member salaries shall be paid during any lapse in government funding,” he wrote in social media posts. “This especially applies to my colleagues who voted against the bipartisan, bicameral funding bill that passed the House last week, which would keep the government funded and open.”

The Congressman marked his post with “#NoBudgetNoPay.” 

    Credit: Brian Fitzpatrick/Facebook
  

The federal government shutdown as of Oct. 1 at midnight, after failing to pass neither the Democrat nor Republican proposals.

“Both proposals fell short of the 60 votes needed to pass,” reported ABC News. “The Democratic plan which would have restored $1 trillion in Medicaid cuts passed into law this summer on top of a permanent extension of the Obamacare subsidies set to expire at the end of the year, went down along party lines, 47-53.”

The report added that a Republican pitch also fell short by ten votes, prompting the shutdown with the two failures.

“Democratic Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto and John Fetterman and independent Sen. Angus King, who caucuses with Democrats, voted for the Republican plan that would have extended funding for seven weeks, but it failed on a 55-45 vote,” said the ABC report. “Sen. Rand Paul was the only Republican to vote against it.”