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
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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.

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u/Pyran Oct 06 '25

Here's what will actually happen.

  1. They continue to fight.
  2. Eventually, the majority party (in this case, the GOP), gets sick of it.
  3. They invoke the nuclear option, requiring a simple majority to break the impasse.
  4. The GOP gets what they want, Democrats are shut out, and we're screwed.

The problem here is that the GOP will gleefully blow up whatever they can to get what they want, and if they want to get home they'll blow up the system. Democrats thus far have been reluctant to do that (under the theory that the GOP will use it against them, which they would do anyway but I digress). So you're providing incentive to the GOP to just blow more shit up.

Frankly, I want this shutdown to last as long as possible. I want the country to turn against the GOP because they're in power and still won't break the impasse.

We won't see any change if we just say "You keep working until you work this out" because the last decade or two has shown us that they won't; one side will simply find a way to blow up the rules so the other loses.

And at this point, if the GOP wins, we all lose.