SRES 526 — Congress 119
A resolution withholding the pay of Senators if a Government shutdown occurs.
Official source: https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-resolution/526
Congress.gov subjects: Congressional operations and organization; Government employee pay, benefits, personnel management; Members of Congress; Senate; Congress
Issues impacted: Congressional Procedure (ai, high)
Official bill text (stored)
Plain-text extraction from Congress.gov text formats. Canonical source remains the official URL above. Full text is prioritized for bills with roll-call votes.
119 SRES 526 IS: Withholding the pay of Senators if a Government shutdown occurs. U.S. Senate 2025-12-03 text/xml EN Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain. III 119th CONGRESS 1st Session S. RES. 526 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES December 3, 2025 Mr. Kennedy submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Rules and Administration RESOLUTION Withholding the pay of Senators if a Government shutdown occurs. 1. Withholding pay of Senators during Government shutdowns (a) Definitions In this section— (1) the term Government shutdown means a lapse in appropriations for 1 or more Federal agencies or departments; and (2) the term Secretary of the Senate means the Secretary of the Senate, or an employee of the Office of the Secretary of the Senate who is designated by the Secretary to carry out the requirements of this section. (b) Withholding Senators' pay if Government shutdown occurs (1) Withholding payments During any period in which a Government shutdown is in effect, the Secretary of the Senate shall disburse and hold any payments otherwise required to be made with respect to such period for the compensation of each Senator. (2) Release of payments The Secretary of the Senate shall release to each Senator any payments held under paragraph (1) with respect to a Government shutdown as soon as practicable after the date on which the Government shutdown ends. (c) Effective date This section shall apply on and after the day after the date of the regularly scheduled general election for Federal office held in November 2026.
Plain-English summary
Confidence: high · Complexity: simple · Model: grok-4.5
Here’s a simple Senate resolution about Senators’ pay when the government shuts down.
If there’s a shutdown—meaning funding lapses and one or more federal agencies run out of money—the Secretary of the Senate holds each Senator’s paycheck for that stretch. The money isn’t gone. Once the shutdown ends, the held pay gets released as soon as they can manage it.
In everyday terms, Senators wouldn’t collect their salary while a shutdown is on; they’d get it afterward. Regular federal workers already feel that delay. This puts Senators under a similar hold until funding is fixed.
It doesn’t start right away. The rule applies beginning the day after the November 2026 federal election.
Related issues
How a vote maps to positions
Impartial mapping: which issue position a Yea vs Nay advances. When a bill has multiple floor votes, each roll can have its own mapping. Bill-level entries (no roll listed) apply as a default when a roll has no specific map. Used for legislator alignment.
All rolls (bill default)
| Issue | Yea advances | Nay advances | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Congressional Procedure | Transparency and ethics process | Status quo / reject this change | Yea backs a chamber rule that holds Senators’ pay during funding lapses as an accountability tool; Nay prefers keeping prior pay practice without that hold. |