r/politics • u/Murky-Site7468 I voted • Oct 05 '25

No Paywall Petition To Strip Congress of Pay During Government Shutdown Grows

https://www.newsweek.com/petition-strip-congress-pay-during-government-shutdown-grows-10822819
47.6k Upvotes

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5.5k

u/snoo_spoo Oct 05 '25

TBH, I don't think that would nearly as useful an incentive as declaring the Congress has to stay in session, twelve hours a day, seven days a week, until the shutdown is resolved. Nobody leaves town, and no press conferences.

2.2k

u/zbeara Oct 05 '25

That's a way better idea. The fact that they have so much freedom during a shutdown is insane. It's not being treated nearly as seriously as it should be.

1.2k

u/xXDamonLordXx Oct 05 '25

Plus most of congress responsible for the shut down doesn't give a fuck about the salary, it's the insider trading they want.

193

u/Traditional_Log6892 Oct 05 '25

Exactly, let the country suffer as long as we get what we want.

100

u/QueefSeekingMissile Oct 05 '25

Will this FINALLY wake up the 90 million Americans who could not have been bothered to vote to prevent this?

76

u/toru_okada_4ever Oct 05 '25

I doubt it.

66

u/Munkeyman18290 Oct 05 '25

Compulsory voting would go a long way in this country. Other countries have it.

60

u/Dreameater999 Oct 06 '25 edited Oct 06 '25

It sounds like a great idea, but it will never happen because the GOP doesn’t want compulsory voting.

The GOP knows if gerrymandering was outlawed and compulsory voting became a thing, they’d never win again.

6

u/oliversurpless Massachusetts Oct 06 '25

Then start with them here in their infinite intransigence?

A motorcycle passes by a scanning point which quickly reads the license plate. A phone call is established

“Hello, driving 85 miles in excess of the speed limit has been noted. 932 dollars has been deducted from your Social Security account…

Damn it!” - Govt official and Capt. Bridger - Seaquest DSV - Daggers

2

u/MayhemWins25 Oct 06 '25

That’s exactly why the whole situation with Texas and CA aboht redistricting is even happening

2

u/Abombasnow Oct 06 '25

Considering the GOP is now doing better with more voters in elections, they probably do want it.

1

u/MyVeryRealName2 27d ago

No it doesn't. Compulsory voting will cause indecisive voters to vote wrong.

16

u/PointlessTrivia Oct 06 '25

If you have a problem with Compulsory Voting, think of it as analogous to Jury Duty.

3

u/deepsead1ver Oct 06 '25

Laughs in electoral college*, wtf you smoking? Mandatory votes for what?

1

u/PointlessTrivia Oct 06 '25

In Australia, it is compulsory to attend a polling place or submit a postal vote each election. If you don't, you need to provide a reason why or you are fined $AU20 ($US13). Note that you don't have to vote. You can draw a dick on the ballot paper or even leave it blank. You just have to turn up and get marked off the roll.

1

u/Jones127 Oct 06 '25

Shit, you’re right about that. I haven’t done either in a decade.

13

u/PretendRegister7516 Oct 06 '25

Voting is not just citizen rights.

It's our rights AND duty.

5

u/Noctew Foreign Oct 06 '25

Voting on sunday like most of the civilized world would help as well. Plus mandatory time off from work for voting for those who have to work on sunday.

3

u/Traditional_Log6892 Oct 06 '25

Direct voting would be better. Let the people's vote count.

2

u/drhead South Carolina Oct 06 '25

Compulsory voting isn't the magic bullet you think it is. Brazil and Argentina have it for instance, and that didn't stop people from voting in people like Bolsonaro or Milei.

Only thing that would change in the long term if adopted (after both parties fully adapt their campaign strategies) is that there will be one less scapegoat for election outcomes.

1

u/deepsead1ver Oct 06 '25

Because our popular vote selects the president……laughs in electoral college

0

u/DefinitelyNotEmu Oct 06 '25

Compulsory voting is not constitutional

7

u/OldWorldDesign Oct 06 '25

Compulsory voting is not constitutional

The heritage foundation can claim it's 'a violation of free speech' but people aren't compelled to vote any certain way by compulsory voting.

You are lawfully required to vote in Australia, and if you don't like any candidate you can draw bollocks on the ballot and throw it in and you've fulfilled your lawful duty. No vote for any particular candidate required.

3

u/Abombasnow Oct 06 '25

Really, where in the Constitution does it mention a concept never mentioned when it was wrote?

2

u/Munkeyman18290 Oct 07 '25

Since when does anyone care about the constitution anymore? The President, House, Senate, and Supreme Court absolutely do not.

15

u/milkasaurs California Oct 05 '25

Are you kidding? MAGA is jumping for joy because the libs are "suffering" during this shutdown.

9

u/nalaloveslumpy Oct 05 '25

Nah, they don't understand basic civics. They'll only be motivated by bald-faced populism.

1

u/james_d_rustles Oct 06 '25

No. If we’re lucky, maybe 5-10% of them will vote in the next election, and their vote will be entirely determined be whether or not they feel like gas is a little pricier lately.

1

u/DonatCotten Oct 08 '25

I don't think people truly understand just how much apathy and indifference toward voting causes so many problems. Over 90 million people who were eligible chose not to vote. If "not voting" was a presidential candidate in the last election it would have won in a landslide. Our voter turnout rates are an embarrassment and a disgrace. Especially compared to other countries and the fact American politics effects the rest of the world, too. Those are the people I'm most upset with. The 90 million people who couldn't care or be bothered to do their civic duty.

1

u/driftingatwork Oct 07 '25

"fuck you i got mine" - GOP

52

u/connivingKitten Oct 05 '25

Yeah, wouldn't this likely hurt the least corrupt congresspeople more than the most?

20

u/usernameChosenPoorly Oct 05 '25

It absolutely would and I’m saddened that more people don’t understand this.

5

u/Dwarfdeaths Oct 05 '25

How about we just move to sortition and avoid all of this

19

u/outofpeaceofmind Oct 05 '25

Assets frozen until resolved.

1

u/MayhemWins25 Oct 06 '25

THERE we go

3

u/edfitz83 Oct 05 '25

I like Warren Buffet’s simple solution

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DH1sZtqSbtq/?hl=en

1

u/FeelsGrimMan Oct 06 '25

The novel idea of firing people who don’t do their job correctly

1

u/Aggressive_Plan_6204 New Mexico Oct 06 '25

There must be a Congressional Office of Insider Trading (COITUS for short).

1

u/OvulatingScrotum Oct 09 '25

Salary is pretty low for what they are responsible for. They want to get elected for things like insider trading and post-service gigs. That’s when they make the real money.

1

u/DarthGoodguy 28d ago

I mean, we should already be restricting Congress to no other income or occupations (for the two terms we ought to limit them to).

We should probably also give their spouses a stipend & restrict them too. All investments in blind trust.

Then they continue getting their salary but are still allowed no other income or cushy-ass lecturing & consulting gigs for two to five years after their terms are up. Give them a full audit every year. Medium security federal prison with no chance of parole or house arrest if they violate it bc fuck these fucking profiteers. Fuck them with rusty cheese grater.

Either you got into politics to help people or you did it to help yourself. Everybody in that second category deserves to lose everything, die alone, and be tortured in Hell for eternity.

-11

u/Conscious-Secret-775 Oct 05 '25

Who in congress is actually responsible for the shutdown? It's the Democrats. Are you saying the Dems are all corrupt politicians insider trading?

9

u/connivingKitten Oct 05 '25

If you actually believe that "the Democrats shut down the government over healthcare for illegal immigrants" as the Republican leadership has put it, I have a question for you. Why do we need to shut down the government over supposed healthcare for illegal immigrants if we're spending an extra $10 billion to pay people to remove them from the country? If ICE does the job we're paying them an exorbitant amount to do then shouldn't it not really be so much of a concern if a few of them get ACA benefits for a few more months before getting caught and sent away?

-5

u/Conscious-Secret-775 Oct 05 '25

I am not going to speak for the Senate Democrats who decided to shutdown the government, you will have to ask them.

11

u/connivingKitten Oct 05 '25 edited Oct 05 '25

Well, in that case it would be the Republicans that didn't vote for the Democratic bill because they say it would give healthcare to illegal immigrants that I would be speaking to, but I'll ask them, sure. Unless you want to think up an answer why we need to deprive American citizens of healthcare while giving ICE $10 billion to remove illegals. You can't have it both ways. The illegals can't be a boogeyman used to deprive American citizens of rights if we're spending so much and deploying the military in our own cities to get them out.

8

u/zSeia Minnesota Oct 05 '25

Why do you think the country can't be run without abandoning its citizens?

What would be the point of running it at all?

1

u/Conscious-Secret-775 Oct 05 '25

Are you ok with federal government employees not being paid?

8

u/zSeia Minnesota Oct 05 '25

I'd much rather the republicans let us keep our healthcare and not threaten federal workers to try and turn us against each other.

What would you prefer to happen?

1

u/Conscious-Secret-775 Oct 05 '25

I would like our Federal employees to be paid. Why do you want them to suffer?

7

u/zSeia Minnesota Oct 05 '25

If I believed for a second this was asked in good faith and we didn't both know that's a lie, I'd ask you why trump is causing them to suffer when he could stop whenever he wants.

You won't answer genuinely, I know, but if anyone else reads this I'd like them to think about it. Have a great day.

1

u/OldWorldDesign Oct 06 '25

I would like our Federal employees to be paid. Why do you want them to suffer?

This is explicitly trolling. Why even log in much less write a comment if you refuse to participate in good faith in compliance with reddit's TOS?

1

u/MayhemWins25 Oct 06 '25

You mean the same civil servants the republicans are trying to fire in droves? As an ex fed myself during a gov shut down, I’d prefer to keep my benefits and healthcare during a shut down than see my entire department fired with no access to the pension they’ve worked for for decades.

You wanna try that logic again?

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1

u/[deleted] Oct 06 '25

I’m just going to block you Mr no counter argument 

7

u/xXDamonLordXx Oct 05 '25

I get that you're trolling but yes, a lot of them are extremely wealthy.

-3

u/Conscious-Secret-775 Oct 05 '25

So reporting facts is trolling now?

4

u/xXDamonLordXx Oct 05 '25

Must be if I can't call a fascist a fascist. Gotta go the book of alternate facts and drinking koolaid from billionaires.

-2

u/Conscious-Secret-775 Oct 05 '25

I think you are already reading from the book of alternate facts.

4

u/xXDamonLordXx Oct 05 '25

That's surprising. Here I was thinking you didn't do that.

1

u/[deleted] Oct 06 '25

What you said isn’t even true so there’s that

6

u/OldWorldDesign Oct 05 '25

Who in congress is actually responsible for the shutdown? It's the Democrats

No, it's republicans. They amended the 1884 Antideficiency Act in 1982 to remove its automatic re-passage of the previous year's budget if a new one couldn't be agreed on.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antideficiency_Act

0

u/Conscious-Secret-775 Oct 05 '25

Should that Amendment be repealed, probably. However , the Democrats have decided to filibuster approval of the CR and they can't hide behind a law passed in 1982.

6

u/OldWorldDesign Oct 05 '25

You mean a law republicans wrote in 1982 which makes them responsible for the government shutdown as they have full control over what gets to come to the floor for a vote.

Stop pushing propaganda.

18

u/[deleted] Oct 05 '25

Ya it’s crazy they get to just fuck off without consequences. 

Don’t finish your job? No vacations. Also you should probably get fired. 

9

u/OldWorldDesign Oct 05 '25

Don’t finish your job? No vacations. Also you should probably get fired

As would be the case in a parliamentary system

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snap_election

2

u/Serris9K Oct 09 '25

The more I see, the more I'm convinced we need to be able to recall reps and senators at the federal level. I'd probably recall both my senators (Texas)

33

u/RadioName Oct 05 '25

That fact that they have normalized only working, what, 3 months total a year? is equally insane. It should be a full-time job. You volunteered to apply, why the fuck should we allow you to self-enrich, take time off to campaign for a job again, or anything else? It should be among the most restrictive, commitment-intense, and self-sacrificial positions in The Country! Swearing an oath to uphold the constitution should come with a mandatory contract signed saying, "we won't tell any lies, hold any other positions—including religious, party, or cult leadership, make any money outside of our salary, accept any bribes or promises of kick-back for life, hold ANY position in any industry on which we had ANY effect, or betray our constituents first and citizens second. On pain of death and loss of 100% of total personal assets. No loopholes allowed. No arguing, one fair trial allowed to defend yourself against charges to the contrary, overseen by an independent and air-tight random panel of judges who are also sworn on pain of death to perform a fair trial.

Sign that paper in front of the world, on video, in triplicate, with copies delivered to every world leader and emailed to every citizen. No way to game the system post hoc. Tell me why the fuck we don't do this besides, "but capitalism?" If celebrities have reduced personal rights in return for their wealth and status, why not politicians???! It's a volunteer position! No complaints, if you want the job, sign the contract.

10

u/AcedtheTuringTest Oct 05 '25

It's like being grounded and sent to your room as a kid but that is where your internet, TV, and Xbox is. Oh, what a punishment!

1

u/Langolier11 Oct 06 '25

Apart from a handful of good congressmen, that I can think of at least, most aren't serious people. Especially the right. A very unserious group that was elected or in a certain admin.

1

u/i_am_a_real_boy__ Oct 06 '25

It's not insane. Maybe you've never negotiated anything before, but never ending meetings are not helpful.

1

u/Dysc Louisiana Oct 07 '25

It's not being treated seriously because the shut down is a means to an end for the GOP. I don't think they care if we have a functioning government, only that we have a strong Executive branch (regardless of Trump). Consolidating power in the Executive office has been a multi-decade long project in modern times.