The Senate on Wednesday unanimously voted to advance a resolution sponsored by Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) to suspend senators’ pay during a government shutdown, something that could give lawmakers a powerful incentive not to shutter federal departments because of funding disputes in future years.

The resolution only applies to members of the Senate and does not need to be approved by the House or signed by President Trump.

It would take effect after the midterm election so it would not apply to a possible government shutdown this fall, which Republicans think is likely to happen because of the deep animosity between Trump and Democratic senators.

The Senate voted 99-0 on the motion to end debate on proceeding to the resolution, signaling that it will easily have enough support to pass the upper chamber.

The measure stipulates that if Congress fails to provide funding for federal agencies before the deadline, members of the Senate wouldn’t get paid.

A senator would not lose his or her salary as the money would be put in an escrow account. But the money would not be available to lawmakers while the government is shut down.

Senators voted to approve the resolution after the federal government was shut down for a record 43 days in the fall of 2025 because of a dispute over the expiration of enhanced health insurance premium subsidies.

Then the Department of Homeland Security was shut down for 76 days this year after Democrats refused to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol without reforms following the fatal shooting of two protesters in Minneapolis by federal agents.

Kennedy said he wanted to make the resolution effective immediately because he’s “very concerned that my Senate colleagues on the Democratic side are going to try to shut down government yet again right before the elections to try to create chaos to affect the midterm elections.”

But he said the resolution cannot take effect until after November because of the 27th Amendment, which prohibits any law that increases or decreases the salaries of members of Congress until after the next election of the House of Representatives.

Kennedy cited last year’s full-government shutdown and this year’s partial government shutdown in a speech on the floor before the vote.

“We ought to hide our heads in a bag. It’s got to stop. Shutting down government should not be our default solution to our refusal to work out our issues and our differences,” he said.

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) told reporters Tuesday that he would support the measure, indicating that it would pass with overwhelming support.

Updated at 2:00 p.m. EDT

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