Some lawmakers are refusing paychecks during government shutdown

Some lawmakers are asking Capitol Hill administrators to temporarily withhold their paychecks until the government shutdown is resolved. The lawmakers say they shouldn't be paid when our troops and government workers aren't being paid.

Who are they?

As of Saturday, the tally included three Republican congressmen and one Democrat. The group includes Reps. Lou Barletta (R-Pa.), Tom MacArthur (R-N.J.), Dan Donovan (R-N.Y.) and Sean Patrick Maloney (D-N.Y.). They each wrote letters to the Capitol's administrative office to ask that their paychecks be stopped until the federal budget is approved. The lawmakers also published their letters on social media. Another Republican lawmaker, Scott Taylor (R-Va.), announced he is donating a day's salary to various veterans organizations for each day the government is shut down.

Additionally, five Democratic senators – Heidi Heitkamp (N.D.), Claire McCaskill (Mo.), Jon Tester (Mont.), Debbie Stabenow (Mich.) and Joe Manchin (W.Va.) – announced a bill Friday that would require all lawmakers to go without pay during the shutdown, The Hill reported.

“If members of Congress can’t fulfill their basic duty to keep the government open and provide the essential services Americans depend on, then they don’t deserve their paychecks,” Heitkamp said in a statement. “Period.”

Heitkamp and the other senators are all up for reelection this year, The Hill noted.

What did they say?

Barletta blamed Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) for the shutdown. He said Democrats are holding out for a permanent DACA program, which would encourage more illegal immigration.

"I have asked the CAO to withhold my pay until Senate Democrats end this pointless #SchumerShutdown," he said in a Facebook post.

Maloney tweeted that he doesn't believe it's right to get paid when the military will have to go without during the shutdown.

"I asked the House Chief Administrative Officer to withhold my pay during this shutdown. Until our military gets paid, I won't get paid," he tweeted.

Taylor, a retired Navy SEAL, said on Twitter that he is donating a day's salary to various military or veterans organizations for each day the government is shut down. He says he's doing it because military troops will go largely unpaid during the shutdown.

Saturday's pay will go to Vetshouse, Inc., Taylor said on Twitter.