Congress·In Committee·H.R. 1973

No Pay for Congress During Default or Shutdown Act

Congressional Pay: Cuts During Shutdowns and Debt Crises

Mar 10, 2025·View on Congress.gov·Read full text

This bill is one vehicle in a longer effort. See the full story across every version.View effort →

Next up: A house committeeNo action in 16 months

This bill is currently sitting in two House committees and has not moved since March 2025. Nothing has happened with this proposal for over 15 months. The House committees must review the bill before it can move forward, but it is not showing any signs of progress.

Legislative Progress

House

Senate

President

Law

Unlikely to pass

While these bills are popular with voters, Congress rarely allows them to reach a final vote because members are reluctant to cut their own pay.

How we got here

This bill’s path across every version that has carried it.

Reintroduced
Reintroduced from H.R. 3538 (118th), which died when its Congress ended.
H.R. 3538 (118th) →

Key Points

This bill would reduce the pay of every Member of Congress for each day the government is shut down. It also applies if the country hits its debt limit and cannot pay its bills.
For the current term, the money would be kept in a special holding account and given back to lawmakers at the end of 2026. This is required by the Constitution, which prevents pay changes from happening in the middle of a term.
Starting in 2027, any pay lost during a shutdown or debt crisis would be gone forever. Lawmakers would lose one full day of salary for every 24 hours the government remains closed or in default.
The goal is to give lawmakers a personal financial reason to avoid budget standoffs. It tries to make sure they feel the same pressure as federal workers who might go without pay during these times.

Impact Analysis

Govbase has not yet run an impact analysis on this legislation.

Milestones

2 milestones2 actions

Mar 10, 2025House

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 committee concerned.

Sent to a congressional committee for expert review. The committee decides whether this bill moves forward.

Mar 10, 2025

Introduced in House

The bill was officially filed and given a number. It now enters the legislative queue.

No votes or news coverage recorded for this bill yet.

Source Information

Document Type

Congressional Bill

Official Title

No Pay for Congress During Default or Shutdown Act

Bill NumberHR 1973

Congress119th Congress

ChamberHouse of Representatives

Latest ActionReferred 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 committee concerned.