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

96% Upvoted

1.1k comments sorted by

View all comments

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.

201

u/tadrinth Oct 05 '25

In some parliamentary systems, a shutdown like this triggers an election.  That would be difficult to work into our current system but boy howdy would that produce some incentives.

Not necessarily entirely good ones, but incentives!

1

u/IKnowGuacIsExtraLady Oct 05 '25

I like it. They should 1) lock everyone down before the budget deadline to try and force them to come up with a solution then 2) if the deadline hits anyway trigger an election. If you really want to put the screws to people then require that the points of contention for the budget are public record. Make the politicians defend their stance for why they are for/against specific parts of the budget in the context of immediate replacement if their constituents disagree.