Congressman Wiley Nickel Introduces The No Budget, No Pay Act

WASHINGTON, DC –  During a press conference outside the U.S. Capitol, Congressman Wiley Nickel (NC-13) introduced the No Budget, No Pay Act, on Thursday. The legislation would hold Members of Congress financially accountable if Congress does not agree to a budget resolution or pass regular appropriations bills on a timely basis. 

Congressman Nickel introduced the No Budget, No Pay Act with original cosponsors Reps. Julia Brownley (CA-26), Lou Correa (CA-46), Dan Goldman (NY-10), Josh Gottheimer (NJ-05), Jared Moskowitz (FL-23), Shri Thanedar (MI-13), and David Trone (MD-06).

The No Budget, No Pay Act would withhold Member pay if both Houses don’t agree to a concurrent budget resolution by April 15 for the fiscal year starting October 1, or if both Houses haven’t passed all the regular appropriation bills by September 30 for the fiscal year starting October 1.

Historically, Members have continued to receive their paychecks during a government shutdown, even while thousands of federal workers across the country have not.

“Members of Congress shouldn’t get paid if they don’t do their job,” said Congressman Nickel. “It’s our job to fund the government. Federal employees won’t get paid if we have a government shutdown, so why should members of Congress continue to get their paychecks?  This bill will incentivize Congress to get it done and prevent future shutdowns.”

“At the heart of our responsibilities as representatives is the duty to manage our nation’s finances diligently,” said Congressman Thanedar. “If we cannot come together to pass a budget and appropriations bills, it’s only right that we feel the direct consequences in our paychecks. We must hold ourselves accountable to the same standards we set for our constituents.”

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10 COMMENTS

  1. Posing for votes. Literally and figuratively.

    It’s never going anywhere, and they know this.

    It would only hurt them and their fellow freshmen: anyone who’s been in for very long, including the real decision makers, have much larger sources of income, and their congressional salary is a drop in the bucket.

    They are also scaremongering the public with the shutdown, doing things like planting false rumors about Social Security not being paid. The money for SS is already allocated. SS recipients vote, and allowing a bureaucratic failure of payments would result in many of them getting tossed at the next election.

  2. Yawn. A similar bull has been introduced in each of the last 14 congressessional sessions (and similar bills in the NC General Asembly). But it never goes anywhere (even in the years we have a government shutdown). The plain fact of the matter is, the sheeple always (89% of the time) re-elect their same representatives. Only when the sheeple stop voting for a party, and instead vote for a person, will this ever change. #VoteOutIncumbents

    • And fixing the voting system so they can’t control it. Paper ballots, hand counted, Election Day only (with few exceptions). No more electronic voting!!

      • Talk to the commissioners! Its our county and OUR elections. Locally, we can hand count and use paper! With realignment of the precincts, its only 6500 possible votes that would need to be counted. I’m positive we can count to that!

  4. Well intentioned and I actually agree with the premise, however without proper restraints the Dems are just going to use this as a political weapon to shove greater and greater spending bills into play, which they dont care if they get the measly little 179k/yr because they’re making millions off speaking engagement, book deals, and insider trading.

    I think a proper gutting of federal agencies are long over due and Constitutionally binding fiscal restrains are necessary for this bill to do what it is purported to intend. Until the bureaucratic nightmare is wrangled in my the States via Article V, we are subjected to the whims of an elite class of bureaucrats unanswerable to the American voters.

  6. How much effort has he put into convincing his peer democrats into conceding to the reasonable demands of their opponents. Is there ANYONE in DC that can do their job?!? Sadly, he represents my illegally drawn district (thanks to the Cooper/Stein/NAACP/ACLU/DemLoadedCourts thieft of the redistricting process).

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