Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.) suggested revoking congressional pay during the partial government shutdown could help expedite negotiations to reopen the government.
“I really do believe that you should lock every member of Congress in a room, bring the president in, no phones, no pay. You’re not leaving until there’s white smoke,” he said on John Catsimatidis’ radio show. “You need to negotiate, compromise with each other, with the president. I think you’d have a deal within maybe 45 minutes.”
Zeldin expressed sympathy for federal workers who missed a paycheck during the shutdown.
“It’s difficult to miss one paycheck. It becomes increasingly difficult to miss a second paycheck,” he said. “It’s crazy to me that you have members of Congress getting paid while you have Coast Guardsmen who are not.”
About 800,000 federal employees were either furloughed or required to work without pay since Dec. 22, when approximately a quarter of the government was shut down. The Departments of Homeland Security, Agriculture, Treasury, Commerce, Justice, Interior and State, among others, saw their funding lapse. – READ MORE