Today we’re going to stray away from our usual Myasthenia Gravis topic to talk about the government shutdown. As you are undoubtedly aware, we are currently in a Government Shutdown due to the inability of Congress to agree to and pass a budget. During a shutdown such as this, many aspects of our country are not funded resulting in cutting back or cessation of services. Essential services are supposed to continue, but all other services are not being paid…including our military.
How could our military not be considered “essential services”??? I’m a strong supporter of our men and women in the military…always have been, always will be. For the life of me I cannot understand how we can cease paying our military personnel (granted, they will get backpay once this is over, but their families struggle during the shutdown) while we continue to pay the men and women of Congress, who ultimately got us into this mess!
I’ve heard it’s in our Constitution, so I did some checking. The fact is the U.S. Constitution does not explicitly guarantee that members of Congress will be paid during government shutdowns. However, the issue of congressional pay during shutdowns is tied to the 27th Amendment and the structure of federal appropriations.
The 27th Amendment, ratified in 1992, states, “No law, varying compensation for the services of the Senators and Representatives, shall take effect, until an election of Representatives shall have intervened.” This means Congress cannot change its own pay during a current term. Any change in compensation only applies after the next election. This was put into law to prevent a Congress from immediately giving themselves a pay raise, but it also resulted in this unexpected result…congressional salaries are considered “mandatory” payments, protected from being altered mid-term, even during a government shutdown when discretionary funding may lapse.
During a government shutdown, federal funding for certain operations ceases due to the lack of appropriations bill. However, congressional salaries are typically paid from funds considered part of permanent appropriations or obligations that are not subject to annual budget approval. The Treasury Department has historically interpreted these payments as mandatory, ensuring members of Congress continue to receive their salaries, even when other federal employees may be furloughed or go unpaid.
What would happen if this wasn’t the case? What would happen if members of Congress also had their salaries withheld during a government shutdown? Maybe we wouldn’t see as many government shutdowns.
I have a better idea. Take the money that is typically used to pay members of Congress during a shutdown and use it to pay the men and women of our armed forces who are fighting to protect and keep our country free. Paying our military should be an obligation not affected by the lack of ability from our Congress to agree on a budget.
Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of government employees who are going to be hurt by this shutdown, or any government shutdown. There are plenty of non-government employees who also will be hurt who rely on the government for assistance. Our military, however, in my book, takes precedence. We cannot survive without them. They won’t be furloughed; they will be expected to continue working as usual, but without pay. It just bothers me that our members of Congress can allow this to happen, all while collecting paychecks of their own.
Will this ever change? Not until enough people are fed up with the current policies. Even then, it would require an Act of Congress and obviously that’s not going to happen. It may even require an amendment of the 27th Amendment.
Let’s get our country refunded. Let’s quit kicking the can down the road using Continuing Resolutions and actually agree on a budget….then stick to it! And then let’s work on correcting this problem so our members of Congress are the ones who suffer during a government shutdown and not our members of the military.