Democrat won’t say whether he will forgo pay during shutdown while staff works unpaid

Senate staffers missed their first paychecks due to the government shutdown on Monday, but at least one Democratic lawmaker who has repeatedly voted against reopening the government will not say whether he still plans to receive his salary.

Democratic Arizona Sen. Ruben Gallego told the Daily Caller News Foundation on Monday that he is “still evaluating” whether to request that his next paycheck be withheld. Gallego also criticized Republicans for pursuing “symbolic, bullshit gestures” during the shutdown while arguing that most of his colleagues are wealthy individuals who can afford to miss a paycheck.

“But the whole point of all of this is one big gimmick because all these guys here are either millionaires or billionaires and already got paid out for the month before they started doing this,” Gallego told the DCNF while referring to his House colleagues who are paid on a monthly basis. “At the same time, they’ve been careless to the fact they’re going to increase the insurance premiums on 24 million Americans, potentially kick off 4 million Americans from health insurance.”

“But they’ll do these symbolic, bullshit gestures that don’t do anything to help the cause,” Gallego continued.

Members of Congress receive their salaries during a shutdown due to a provision in the Constitution protecting their pay. Lawmakers earn an annual salary of $174,000, with those in leadership positions receiving larger sums.

A large swath of lawmakers in both parties have pledged to forgo their next paycheck as long as the shutdown continues.

Gallego previously told NBC News before the shutdown commenced that he cannot afford to miss a paycheck, citing his three children.

“I would basically be missing, you know, mortgage payments, rent payments, child support,” the Arizona Democrat, who is divorced and remarried in 2019, told the outlet. “So it’s not feasible, not gonna happen.”

Junior employees on Gallego’s staff likely make less than a third of the Arizona Democrat’s yearly salary. The median pay for a staff assistant position — the most junior role in a Senate office — is $55,106 per year, according to data compiled by the Congressional Research Service as of August 2024.

Senate staff received an email on Thursday stating that all future paychecks will be withheld until the end of the shutdown, according to an email obtained by the DCNF.

The DCNF asked Gallego about his staff, who likely have similar financial concerns, missing their paychecks on Monday.

“I told you what I told you,” Gallego said, declining to go into further detail.

Senate Democrats have repeatedly refused to supply the votes to temporarily fund the government and end the shutdown.

Gallego has rejected a House-passed bipartisan funding measure to temporarily fund the government on eleven separate occasions. The measure would also ensure that his staff and the millions of other federal employees set to miss a paycheck receive their salaries.

The Arizona Democrat also voted against a procedural motion to advance a defense appropriations bill on Thursday that would have paid U.S. service members for the full fiscal year.

Gallego has supported a Democratic-led counter proposal that would force the government to spend an extra $1.5 trillion on various partisan policy demands to fund operations through Oct. 31.

More than 500 individuals have applied for a $5,000 shutdown relief loan, according to a spokesperson for the U.S. Senate Federal Credit Union. Hundreds of Capitol Hill staffers and federal workers across varying agencies have become members of the credit union or its financial literacy-focused nonprofit to simply apply for the loan.

Andi Shae Napier contributed to this report.

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