No Budget, No Paycheck Say Lawmakers

A bipartisan duo of Hill lawmakers believe they have finally found a way to motivate Congress into passing a budget.

The No Budget, No Pay Act, sponsored in the House by Rep. Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.), would halt congressional pay if Congress fails to pass appropriations bills on deadline. The legislation would also negate retroactive pay.

Cooper’s plan is featured in a new proposal by the centrist group “No Labels” called, “Making Congress Work.”

“This would not necessarily cut congressional pay, it would make every Congressman or Senator a forceful advocate for getting our work done on time,” Cooper told me during a phone interview today.

“I bet you we would get our work done on time,” he added.

(Click here to listen to clips from our conversation)

Sen. Dean Heller (D-Nev.), who introduced the bill in the upper chamber, said “if Congress does not do its job, then Congress should not get paid.”

The federal government has been operating under a series of temporary spending bills since 2009, the last year Congress passed a budget. Lawmakers are reportedly close, however, on sending a nearly $1 trillion “omnibus” spending package to President Obama’s desk by the end of the year.

The current fiscal year began on October 1.