The partial government shutdown is entering its third week. Hundreds of thousands of federal workers are either working without pay or are furloughed. Unless Congress and the White House can find a solution, many of those workers will miss their first paycheck this coming Friday.
President Donald Trump is refusing to sign any funding measure that would end the partial government shutdown unless it contains more than $5 billion for a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. Trump repeatedly promised during the 2016 campaign that Mexico would pay for construction of the wall.
There are approximately 10,000 federal workers in Utah who are in danger of missing a paycheck this week.
So far, three members of Utah’s Congressional delegation are either refusing a paycheck during the government shutdown or are donating their pay to charity.
Rep. John Curtis sent a letter to the Chief Administrative Officer of the House asking that his pay is withheld during the shutdown. Additionally, he introduced legislation in the House that would withhold pay for all members of Congress so long as the government is shut down.
Rep. Ben McAdams has followed suit, asking that he not get paid during the partial shutdown.
Sen. Mike Lee’s office said in a statement, “Sen. Lee continues to work through the shutdown and has no plans to change compensation procedures. He is making a donation to charity for each day the government is shut down.” A spokesperson for Sen. Lee refused to elaborate when asked about the nature or amount of those charitable donations.
Sen. Mitt Romney’s office told UtahPolicy.com that he would be donating his paycheck to Utah charities while the shutdown was still in place.
The offices of Reps. Chris Stewart and Rob Bishop did not respond to several requests for comment on this story.
