So what happens if President Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy cannot come to an agreement pretty soon over a raising the debt ceiling and cutting some spending and Congress does not approve a deal before the federal government would not be able to pay its bills?
It would mean that payments to federal workers would stop and the stock market and even the world’s economy would be hit hard. But one thing voters should know is something that fact checkers have checked out and it is true.
Regardless of whether the federal government can borrow any more money to pay its bills, members of the House and Senate will get paid as scheduled. That’s according to the National Constitution Center, which says Article I, Section 6 of the U.S. Constitution states that lawmakers, “shall receive a Compensation for their Services, to be ascertained by Law, and paid out of the Treasury of the United States,” and contains no exceptions.
But that could be changing. A Democrat and a Republican in the House have teamed up and have introduced a bill called the “No Pay for Congress During Default or Shutdown Act,”. It says that if the government cannot pay its bills, members of Congress should not get paid either.
Most voters would probably agree that lawmakers should take a financial hit if they don’t do their jobs and don’t prevent a government default.
But you should know that this bipartisan “no pay” bill still allows any money taken away from members of Congress to be returned to them at the end of the term.
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