News

I think I'm ok with this. Before you lynch me, let me explain.

In the halls of Congress there are super rich, long-term, and likely lobby-fed members, and then there are those average people who ran on people-focused platforms and got elected locally. The first group are not going to be hurt by stopping a paycheck that is probably a rounding error in their actual net worth. And those individuals could use a shutdown and the knowledge that the opposition can't survive for too long without a paycheck to force capitulation. So, keep paying the opposition during a shutdown to remove some of the leverage the powerful elite have over those representing the people.

A lot of generalizations in there but that's where my head goes. Still shitty for the country and certainly for those who end up furlowed or worse, for sure. But at least the lawmakers holding out for reform aren't having their own destitution held over their heads.

Such a pathetically stupid fucking country.

If our elected officials fail to do their jobs and keep the government open, it should auto-initiate special elections to vote them out within 6 weeks.

Yeah we knew this from the last 5 times this happened

If government shutdowns shut down everything (no usps mail delivery, no social security, no ice, no border crossings, no Medicare authorization, no air travel, etc) then they would never exist because it would become significant degradation in everyones quality of life.

They should be forced to work just like the military is forced to.

Lock them all in the building, no tweeting, if they are hungry, they can eat prison food.

They stay there until conflict is resolved. Or they can resign their position and forever give up the right to be involed in politics... 🤷‍♂️

Hot take: Congress should be paid during a shutdown

The wealthy members of congress don't care about their salary. They already have large amounts of money made even bigger by insider trading, bribery, and the promise of a lucrative "consulting" role when they leave congress

The honest, working class members of congress rely on their salary. Taking away their salary would give a powerful tool for the wealthy congress members to force the working class members to vote with the wealthy members. It would also incentivize more corruption. Insider trading looks a whole lot more tempting when your income suddenly disappeared and you have $3,000 in rent due tomorrow

It should be noted that not getting paid during a government shutdown would disproportionately negatively affect Democrats in the House, many of whom rely on that income. More House Republicans are independently wealthy.

This is how it's always worked.

If members of congress were not paid, the richer members could use a shutdown to coerce the poorer members, knowing that they have enough saving to survive the payment stop longer than poorer members. In a government where shutdowns are possible, continuing to pay representatives is necessary.

In a proper country, a shutdown would result in an immediate recall and disbarment of every elected official. But we don't live in a proper country.

Continuing to pay those responsible for the shutdown is a bad thing. Punishing every other government worker for someone else's ineptitude is bad. But on balance not paying congress would probably be just a bit worse.

I wonder who came up with that rule…

Some lawmakers said they can’t afford missing a pay period.

“I’m not wealthy, and I have three kids. I would basically be missing, you know, mortgage payments, rent payments, child support,” Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., told NBC News. “So it’s not feasible, not gonna happen.”

oh so just like the thousand of workers that are being affected right now....

Does ICE get paid?

If not I'm all in.

They should finally just amend that paper to say "Fuck the People" instead of "We the People". The "People" no longer have any say and the ballot box is like Schrödinger's Cat.

Among many overhauls that I would like to see, I would like political critters to have limited income, with it based on popular votes held every half-year of their term. Wiping away current standards of income, it would be four brackets for politicians: $40k, $60k, $80k, and $100k annually, initially starting their term at the lowest level. People vote for one of these four, and that is the politician's pay until the next pay vote.

This would allow voters to tangibly voice their (dis)approval of a politico throughout their term, which incentivizes the critter to actually pay attention to their constitute's interests. If a politician seems strangely wealthy despite not having high approval pay, that would make it easier to spot corruption as well.

They get a ton of extra perks straight from the government that you don't even want to know about because it should fill you with rage. They're leeches.

Funny how the government seemed to work fine with no shutdown during Biden's presidential tenure.