Why is Congress getting paid during government shutdown?

 

I have a better  question.  Why is any  member  of the  Government (  That  includes  the  President )  getting paid during  a government shutdown?

 There  is plenty  of blame to go around.  Not to mention owning up to their responsibilities.    Perhaps it is time they  all paid the  piper.  A bit  of hardship would change the way they  look at  things.  And  would go a long way  in  helping them understand  how  their petty  differences and partisanship  affects "The People".   

As it  stands they  have nothing to lose and they  still get  paid no matter how lousy a job  they do.  That  is unrealistic and quite unfair.  IMHO

~Desert Rose~

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KING5.com

Credit: Getty Images 

Members of the House of Representatives leave the U.S. Capitol after passing a continuing resolution to fund the U.S. government that would also delay enrollment in the Affordable Care Act for one year September 30, 2013 in Washington, DC.

by TRAVIS PITTMAN / KING 5 News

Posted on October 1, 2013 at 8:37 AM

Updated today at 11:41 AM

The majority of blame for the U.S. Government shutdown is being put on the shoulders of Congress. However, members of the House of Representatives and the Senate will still be paid.

Their pay is protected by the 27th Amendment to the Constitution.

"No law, varying the compensation for the services of the Senators and Representatives, shall take effect, until an election of Representatives shall have intervened,” reads the amendment, which was passed in 1992.

USA Today reports that the point of the law was to prevent members of Congress from voting a pay raise for themselves. But, it also protects them from taking a pay cut.

Read More Here

Related:

• Gov't social media accounts go silent during shutdown
• What's changing, what's not, in government shutdown
• Congress plunges nation into government shutdown

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CBS News

Blame game starts with no end in sight for government shutdown

By

Rebecca Kaplan /

Updated at 1:30 P.M.

"Government is closed, because of the irrationality of what is going on on the other side of the Capitol," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said on the floor of the Senate Tuesday morning. "They'd rather see the government shut down than do anything to protect the American people from the consequences of Obamacare," countered Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.

With the parts of the federal government officially closed for business today - and no path out of the political gridlock in sight - lawmakers are trying to assign blame for the first government shutdown in 17 years.

President Obama in particular laid the blame on thick in an afternoon news conference where he said a small group of lawmakers were responsible for an ideologically-driven "Republican shutdown."

"One faction of one party in one house of Congress in one branch of government shut down major parts of the government all because they didn't like one law," Mr. Obama said. "This Republican shut down did not have to happen, but I want every American to understand why it did happen. Republicans in the House of Representatives refused to fund the government unless we defunded or dismantled the Affordable Care Act. They've shut down the government over an ideological crusade to deny affordable health insurance to millions of Americans. In other words, they demanded ransom just for doing their job."

The House and Senate spent the better part of Monday and the early hours of Tuesday morning passing back and forth a short-term spending bill with no agreement. Even after midnight, when funding to keep the government open had run out, the House still voted to send the bill back to the Senate. That legislation, in addition to funding the government, also included an amendment to delay the individual mandate in Obamacare for one year and eliminate subsidies for Congressional staffers buying healthcare in the new exchanges. It also appointed eight Republican members to participate in a budget conference with the Senate, something Democrats in the upper chamber had been requesting for months to no avail.

Read More  and  Watch Video Here

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