No Budget, No Pay

Funding the government is Congress's most basic job, and it almost never gets done on time. Since the modern budget process began in the 1970s, Congress has passed all of its regular spending bills before the deadline only four times. What fills the gap is a cycle we've all been trained to accept: stopgaps, cliffs, and shutdowns.

Everyone feels it except the people causing it. In the 43-day shutdown of 2025 and the record 76-day Homeland Security shutdown of 2026, federal workers went without paychecks and TSA lines stretched for hours, while Members of Congress were paid on schedule the entire time. This bill is a first step to change that, built to actually pass. And we'll tell you exactly where it falls short.

What Happened Last Time

This has been tried, and the record is worth telling straight:

• It passed. In January 2013, Congress attached a No Budget, No Pay provision to a short-term debt-limit bill. It passed the House 285–144 and the Senate 64–34, and President Obama signed it. Miss the April 15 budget deadline, and that chamber's pay goes into escrow.
• It worked, at first. Both chambers beat the deadline. The Senate adopted its first budget in four years.
• It stopped there. The House and Senate passed very different budgets, and a few senators repeatedly blocked the two sides from even meeting to reconcile them. Six months later, the government shut down for 16 days anyway.
• Then it expired. It covered one year only. Versions have been reintroduced in nearly every Congress since, by members of both parties, and none has passed.

The lessons: the pressure works when it's real, it has to be permanent, and a one-chamber budget alone doesn't keep the government open.

What the Bill Does

• No budget, no pay, permanently. If a chamber hasn't adopted a budget resolution by April 15, that chamber's Members have their pay held in escrow until it does. It's the 2013 rule, made permanent, and it applies per chamber so one house isn't punished for the other's failure.
• No "deeming" dodge. The chamber has to actually vote on a budget. A procedural vote that just deems one adopted doesn't count.
• Shutdown means pay parity. During any shutdown, every Member's pay is held in escrow and released when it ends. That's exactly how furloughed federal workers are treated: not paid during, paid in full after. Congress gets no better deal than the people it sends home.
• No backdoors. No paying Members out of office accounts in the meantime, and a floor objection blocks any attempt to release the escrow early or waive the law for a given year.
• An annual report card. Every October 15, the Government Accountability Office publishes a plain public record: did each chamber pass a budget, which spending bills were on time, how long any shutdown lasted, and how much pay was held.
• Workers stay protected. Staff and federal employees aren't touched, and their guaranteed back pay is reaffirmed.

Why We Built It This Way

We'd rather pass a real first step than introduce a perfect bill that never gets a vote.

• It's constitutionally conservative. Escrow delays pay rather than reducing it. That's the design Congress already approved in 2013, and it avoids a court fight over the 27th Amendment, which bars changing congressional pay until after an election.
• It's hard to vote against. "Members should be paid on the same terms as the federal workers they furloughed" is not a position many want to oppose on the record.
• It has a path. In 2013 it rode on a must-pass debt-limit bill. The same approach works on the next stopgap or debt-limit deal.

What This Bill Doesn't Do Yet

We won't oversell it. Here's where this first step falls short of what Congress ultimately needs, and what we'll keep pushing for:

• It's a delay, not a penalty. Members eventually get every dollar, so wealthy Members barely notice. The full fix: permanent forfeiture of pay for missed days, taking effect after the next election as the 27th Amendment requires.
• It doesn't require the actual spending bills on time. A budget resolution is a plan, not a law. The full fix: a pay trigger tied to passing all twelve spending bills by October 1. That deadline has been met only four times in fifty years, which is exactly why it can't pass yet. The annual report card is the first step: it puts the on-time record in public every year.
• It doesn't make the two chambers agree. 2013 showed that each chamber can pass its own budget and then refuse to reconcile them. The full fix: a trigger tied to a final House-Senate budget agreement.
• It doesn't end shutdowns. Pay pressure changes incentives. It doesn't make shutdowns impossible. The full fix: our No More Shutdowns amendment, which keeps the government funded automatically if Congress misses the deadline.

The Honest Trade-offs

• Shared consequences. The shutdown trigger hits every Member, including those who voted to stay open. That's deliberate: Congress owns the budget together.
• Presidents play a role too. A veto can cause or prolong a shutdown, and the Constitution bars changing the President's pay during a term. Escrow holds Congress's pay because Congress holds the purse.
• Deadlines can encourage rushing. That's why this pairs with our 72-Hour Rule: on time, but never unread.

This is a discussion draft prepared for review by legislative counsel and for presentation to Members of Congress—proposed statutory language, not final legislative text. The authors are not attorneys.

Download the Documents

Read the full bill, share it, and—most importantly—send it to your Representative. All three are formatted Word documents you can print or attach to an email.

Step 1: Find Your Representative

This is a bill, so it can pass Congress and be signed into law—no state ratification required. The people to contact are your U.S. Representative and your two U.S. Senators. Not sure who they are?

A short, specific message from a constituent carries real weight—far more than a mass-produced form letter. Personal calls to a district office count even more.

Step 2: Send a Message

Here's a letter you can use as a starting point. Make it your own—add a sentence about how shutdowns have affected you or someone you know. Fill in the bracketed pieces, then paste it into your Representative's contact form or print and mail it.

Consider attaching the one-page summary or the full bill text (above) so your Representative's office has the actual language in hand.

★ Why This Should Be Easy to Rally Behind

Ask almost anyone, in either party, whether Members of Congress should keep getting paid while TSA officers work without paychecks. You won't find many takers. The opposition isn't the public. It's the small group being asked to give up a privilege nobody else has.