During the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, lawmakers in Washington, D.C., managed to collect over $20,000 each from taxpayers, according to official figures reviewed by the Post.
President Donald Trump ended the historic 43-day shutdown with a signature on Wednesday night, as several moderate Democrats joined Republicans to resolve a standoff that the White House claims cost the economy around $15 billion weekly.
In total, Congress members received more than $10 million while the shutdown impacted food stamp distribution, disrupted national travel, and left over a million federal workers unpaid.
Kevin Hassett, an economic adviser to Trump and a candidate for the next chair of the Federal Reserve, noted on Thursday that 60,000 private sector jobs were lost due to the economic effects of the shutdown.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (Democrat, New York) has criticized the seven Democratic senators and one independent who collaborated with Republicans to end the shutdown, stating they secured insufficient concessions regarding healthcare funding.
When asked about her support for Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Ocasio-Cortez expressed, “I certainly don’t agree with what happened.”
“We had a responsibility to address and secure healthcare funding, and the Senate failed in that duty,” Ocasio-Cortez stressed on Wednesday.
Members of the Senate and House of Representatives received their constitutionally protected annual salary of $174,000, while federal employees, including many in the Trump administration, went unpaid for over a month.
On average, lawmakers earn around $476.71 daily before taxes, as reported by the Congressional Budget Office. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana), with the highest annual salary at $223,500, was making approximately $26,330 or $612.33 each day during the funding lapse.
Senate leaders earn an annual salary of $193,400, which equates to about $530 per day.
The U.S. Constitution guarantees congressional salaries in Article I, Section 6, which states they shall be “paid from the Treasury of the United States.”
While 55 senators declared they wouldn’t accept their salaries, Senator Ed Markey (D-Mass.) blocked a proposal by Senator Rick Scott (R-Fla.) that aimed to halt congressional salaries during the shutdown.
Some lawmakers, such as Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), stated their intention to donate their salaries to charities amid the shutdown.
Unlike many other government expenses, congressional salaries don’t require annual renewal, thanks to a permanent spending deal from 1983 under President Ronald Reagan.
The nonpartisan Congressional Research Service estimates that 670,000 federal employees were furloughed, with 730,000 still working without pay.
Additionally, 1.3 million active-duty military and over 750,000 National Guard and Reserve personnel were also affected by the shutdown.
With the reopening order signed by Trump on Wednesday night, those who had their pay frozen are set to receive it back.
Joe Grogan, who worked in the Office of Management and Budget during Trump’s first term, accused Democratic lawmakers of hypocrisy regarding funding matters. He suggested that if they had experienced the same struggles as those who relied on food stamps, faced flight cancellations, or went unpaid, they might have been more cautious about instigating a shutdown.
“Perhaps our members should heed the cry of ‘no king’ and serve the people instead of treating them like subjects,” he added.
