Cory Mills introduces a bill to reduce the pay of Congressmen to $1 per day during shutdown

Cory Mills, a Republican from Florida, introduced a bill that would reduce the pay of congressional to $1 on the first day of any government shutdown. This is part of a spate of bills intended to prevent a prolonged funding lapse.

Earlier this year, the United States experienced their longest-ever government shutdown. During that time, lawmakers received their salaries while federal employees and staffers as a group went without pay. Mills’ legislation, in an attempt to give a financial incentive for averting another shutdown would reduce congressional pay until government is reopened.

This bill is very simple. If Congress cannot do its job then members should not be paid. Period. Congress must be held accountable to the same standards as every American family. The American people deserve government that delivers results and not political stunts. They also don’t deserve a Congress which rewards itself for failing,” Mills, who is a veteran of the military, said in an Washington Examiner statement.

The bill is titled the FUBAR Act (Failed to Uphold Budget Allowance Reduced Act), a play on a military phrase.

This legislation is a new attempt to deal with the pay that legislators still receive when there’s a government shutdown. The 27th Amendment of the Constitution prohibits any changes to salaries for members until after the next elections.

House members have also introduced bills to prevent shutdowns altogether. In September, Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-SD), has introduced The Eliminate Shutdowns Act. This act would automatically trigger a 14-day spending patch upon the government funding deadline, and then continue to renew until a new federal budget is approved.

Johnson, in a press release at the time, said: “Shutdowns were stupid and everyone knew it.”

The latest shutdown, which was sparked by a dispute over the expiration of Obamacare subsidies, started in October and lasted for 43 days.