Government Shutdown Pay & Accountability
GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN PAY & ACCOUNTABILITY
POSITION
A federal funding lapse is a failure of elected leadership, not a failure of the people who serve the country. Federal employees and military personnel must continue receiving their full earned compensation on their normal paydays during a government shutdown. Members of Congress and the President should not receive compensation for any day the shutdown continues.
COVERED PERSONNEL
Continuous pay protection should cover:
all civilian employees of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches, whether working, excepted, or furloughed;
all members of the Armed Forces and Coast Guard on active duty;
members of the National Guard and reserve components serving on federal orders;
members of the commissioned corps of the Public Health Service and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration;
federal law-enforcement officers, air-traffic personnel, transportation-security personnel, emergency personnel, health-care personnel, and every other federal employee legally entitled to compensation;
congressional, judicial, and presidential staff who are employees rather than the elected officials responsible for resolving the funding lapse.
Federal contractors must still be paid on time for accepted work already performed. A shutdown may not be used to avoid a valid existing payment obligation.
NORMAL PAYDAYS, NOT DELAYED BACK PAY
A permanent continuing appropriation should fund payroll during every lapse in annual appropriations.
Covered personnel must receive basic pay, regularly scheduled premium pay, allowances, and differentials on the same dates they would have been paid if no shutdown had occurred.
Health coverage, life insurance, retirement contributions, leave accrual, and other earned benefits must continue without interruption.
Payroll, human-resources, benefits, banking, and information-technology functions necessary to issue pay and maintain benefits must remain funded and operational.
An agency may not evade this protection by changing an employee's shutdown designation, delaying timekeeping, or labeling earned compensation as unavailable back pay.
NO UNPAID WORK
No federal employee or military member should be ordered to work through a shutdown while being denied a normal paycheck. Personnel may still be required to report for lawful duties, but the government must meet its corresponding duty to pay them on time.
PRESIDENTIAL & CONGRESSIONAL CONSEQUENCES
The President and every Member of Congress should permanently forfeit compensation for each calendar day during which any federal funding lapse continues.
The forfeited compensation may not be restored retroactively, converted into another payment, or replaced through an increased allowance.
Staff salaries and ordinary office operations necessary to serve the public should continue. Accountability belongs to the elected decision-makers, not their employees or constituents.
Because the Constitution protects presidential compensation during a term and delays laws varying congressional compensation until after an election, the MPA supports the constitutional amendment or other constitutionally valid enactment necessary to make this permanent forfeiture rule enforceable.
TRANSPARENCY & ENFORCEMENT
The Treasury and Office of Personnel Management should publish a shutdown payroll report showing whether every covered payroll was issued on time, without exposing individual private financial information.
Any missed or reduced payment must be corrected immediately with interest and reimbursement of documented late fees or other direct financial losses caused by the government's delay.
Covered personnel should have an expedited administrative claim and judicial remedy when an agency fails to comply.
Core MPA standard: The government must not balance a political funding dispute on the backs of its employees and military personnel. Workers get paid on time. The President and Congress bear the personal pay consequence of a shutdown.
Related policies: Government Operations, Competition & Public Assets; Federal Spending & National Debt; Workers' Rights; Military; Government Integrity & Equal Justice.
Status: Proposed / Draft, not yet formally adopted.
Originally published: September 27, 2026.
Last updated: September 27, 2026.
Version: Draft 0.1.