To: The United States House of Representatives and The United States Senate
No Compensation without Representation
If a Congressional gridlock should ever result in the financial shutdown of the Federal Government as it did in the mid-1990s, the first budget cuts should be the entire salaries of the elected members of Congress. Since they are entrusted with the duty to keep the system functioning, a shutdown obviously means they failed at their job.
Why is this important?
Congress has spent countless hours debating funding for the federal government, simply because our elected representatives are more interested in representing their parties and lobbyists instead of the people who elected them. This gridlock has threatened to shut down the federal government more than once. I feel that the primary job description of a member of Congress should be, "to keep the federal government functioning."