No Pay for Disarray Act
No Pay for Disarray Act, introduced in the 119th Congress by Ms. Craig, would tie Members of Congress’ pay to the occurrence of a government shutdown. On any day a shutdown is in effect, the act would reduce each member’s annual pay by an amount equal to one day’s worth of pay (based on the member’s current annual rate) multiplied by the number of 24-hour shutdown periods in that year. The bill includes a special escrow mechanism for the 119th Congress: if a shutdown occurs, the withheld amount would be deposited into an escrow account and later released at the end of that Congress to avoid altering compensation in violation of the 27th Amendment. The reduction would apply only to days after the regularly scheduled November 2026 general election, and the act defines how “government shutdown” is determined and who counts as a Member of Congress for purposes of the bill. In short, the bill links congressional pay to shutdown days, creates an escrow safeguard for the 119th Congress, and ties the effective dates to the 2026 election, all while aiming to comply with constitutional constraints on changing pay.
Key Points
- 1Automatic pay reduction: For each day a government shutdown is in effect, a Member’s annual pay is reduced by one day’s pay times the number of shutdown days in that year.
- 2Escrow mechanism for the 119th Congress: If a shutdown occurs during the 119th Congress, the withheld pay for each Member would be deposited into an escrow account during the pay period and released only at the end of the 119th Congress, to avoid changing compensation mid-Congress.
- 3Constitutional safeguard: The escrow and release approach is designed to ensure that pay changes do not violate the 27th Amendment, which restricts adjustments to compensation to take effect only after the next Congressional election.
- 4Effective date tied to the 2026 election: The pay-reduction mechanism (Section 2) would apply to days after the November 2026 general election. An important caveat is that the special escrow provisions (Section 3) apply specifically to the 119th Congress and have an explicit exception after the 2026 election.
- 5Definition and administration: The bill defines “government shutdown” as a lapse in appropriations due to failure to enact regular appropriations or continuing resolutions, and it designates payroll administrators (the House CAO and the Senate Secretary, with Treasury assistance) to carry out the provisions.