How Much Are Members Of Congress Making During The Shutdown?… Here It Is :-)
How Much Are Members Of Congress Making During The Shutdown?… Here It Is 🙂
When Steve Nowicki learned that congresspeople — the government employees who, after failing to reach a budgetary compromise, triggered the shutdown — would still earn their salaries while more than 800,000 furloughed government workers were sent home without pay, he decided to present the facts in real time to the Internet via CongressStillGetsPaid.com.
The U.S. Congress, as a whole, is making $2.95 every second. That’s $177 a minute and more than $250,000 a day. And yes, it’s still making that during the government shutdown it caused.
Nowicki explained. Each congressperson has an annual salary of at least $174,000. Some leadership may earn more, but the team used base salary to keep the calculations conservative.
Congress is paid during the shutdown thanks to the 27th Amendment, which restricts it from changing its pay. Ratified in 1992, the amendment was intended to ensure Congress members didn’t increase their salaries. The measure’s side effect: Congress also cannot cut or freeze its pay (A more detailed explanation can be found here).
Congress Still Gets Paid isn’t the only website tracking government funds during the shutdown.Shutdowncost.com calculates the cost of work and services the government is unable to perform without its furloughed employees.
As of Tuesday morning, the shutdown had cost more than $2 billion.
