I Have A Better Idea for Avoiding or Ending Shutdowns
By Jim Bauer
@porwest (111375)
United States
November 9, 2025 11:31am CST
You know, I have to say, I applaud Senator John Kennedy's bills proposing that during future government shutdowns, lawmakers don't get paid. But let's face it. Is that enough? They're all millionaires in the Congress and in the Senate, and that's not to disparage their riches at all, but simply to point out that losing a paycheck or two isn't going to break them enough to make them move on any sort of legislation that shuts down the government.
I have a better idea.
If the government gets shut down, not one single American taxpayer is required to pay a single penny in income tax withholding during that time AND the taxes cannot be collected retroactively when the government opens back up.
The government simply has to eat the cost of receiving no tax revenue during the shutdown.
Oh yeah, and they need to make sure to adjust our taxable income as well so when we file our taxes, it's like the money we earned during the shutdown never even happened.
7 people like this
3 responses
@moffittjc (126372)
• Gainesville, Florida
9 Nov
That sounds like a great idea, but won't it just add to our already ballooning deficit?
2 people like this
@porwest (111375)
• United States
9 Nov
This is an excellent and astute point. There is always a caveat, and that would be one of them, that also illustrates that my solution may be too simple of one. Either way, we have to create an incentive for our government to AVOID this sort of thing. To me, an effective government is a functional one, and where most of our dysfunction comes from is the inability of both sides to compromise.
Even the idea behind the filibuster is an important one, to my mind, as it BALANCES power, such as in a case where we have 53 Republican senators and need input from the Democrats to pass things, it would be equally useful to the American people if the Democrats held a simple majority and needed input from the Republicans.
It forces a middle ground. But of course, as we have seen, it can also be used to hold a party (or the people) hostage.
Would it add to the deficit? Well, let's just fix that and say "debt" because of course, the deficit and the debt are not the same thing.
But yes. Most certainly it would. Is there a way around that? Not really. But here's the thing, what has ever NOT added to the debt that the government has ever done? So, if the debt's going up anyway, what's a few more hundred billion at this point? Perhaps we can do an offset by doing both things? No taxes collected AND no pay for Congress?
At the end of the day, I just think it's not quite fair to simply say to the American people, "Thank you for your patience and suffering while we hash this thing out."
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (126372)
• Gainesville, Florida
11 Nov
@porwest Actually, I don't think your solution is too simple of one at all. I think it's a good one. Like you said, everything our government does adds to our national debt, so why expect anything different now? And your last sentence gave me a chuckle. Since when did our government ever give two sh*ts about the American people and what we think?
1 person likes this
@porwest (111375)
• United States
12 Nov
@moffittjc It's a complicated thing. I mean, I think our system of government is good. BUT it's of course, not without its issues and as for the American people? Well, we're damned if we do and damned if we don't.
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