Government shutdown sparks GOP plan to penalize lawmakers with new salary tax

Lawmakers, unlike federal workers, are constitutionally required to receive a paycheck during a government shutdown.

Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, wants to hit lawmakers where it hurts as the government shutdown rages on.  (Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images)

The shutdown has trudged on to a third day with no clear off-ramp in sight. The Senate is again set to vote on the GOP’s short-term funding extension on Friday, but Senate Democrats are again expected to block it.

"Democrats like Hakeem Jeffries want to get paid for shutting the government down," Moreno said in a statement to Fox News Digital. "That’s ridiculous. If Congress can’t do the bare minimum, we don’t deserve a paycheck."

SHUTDOWN EXPLAINED: WHO WORKS, WHO DOESN'T AND HOW MUCH IT COSTS

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., speaks to reporters at the Capitol. (Reuters)

Moreno’s bill could circumvent those guardrails by imposing a daily tax on lawmakers that would rise each day that members are in session and that a shutdown continues.

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Meanwhile, the likelihood that the shutdown ends this week is low. Senate Democrats, led by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., are firmly rooted in their position that unless a deal is struck on expiring Obamacare tax credits, they’ll continue to block the GOP’s continuing resolution (CR).

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., plans to keep bringing the same bill, which the House passed last week, in a bid to chip away at Senate Democrats. So far, only three members of the Democratic caucus — Sens. John Fetterman, D-Pa., Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., and Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, joined Republicans to vote for the bill. 

Alex Miller is a writer for Fox News Digital covering the U.S. Senate.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/government-shutdown-sparks-gop-plan-penalize-lawmakers-new-salary-tax