{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://bergman.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=499", "Rep. Bergman Leads Colleagues in Urging Congressional Leadership to Pass No Budget, No Pay Proposal", "2019-12-13", "2019", "2019-12", "Republican", "House", "MI", "Jack Bergman", "B001301", "bergman.house.gov", "bergman", "https://bergman.house.gov/news/documentquery.aspx", "scraper", "Today, Representative Jack Bergman, Senator Rick Scott, Senator Kyrsten Sinema, and Representative Gil Cisneros led a bipartisan, bicameral letter to Congressional leadership urging them to pass No Budget, No Pay to prevent members of Congress from getting paid if they don\u2019t pass a budget.\n\nRead the full letter HERE or below.\n\nDecember 13, 2019\n\nThe Honorable Mitch McConnell\n\nMajority Leader\n\nUnited States Senate\n\nThe Honorable Charles Schumer\n\nMinority Leader\n\nUnited States Senate\n\nThe Honorable Nancy Pelosi\n\nSpeaker of the House\n\nUnited States House of Representatives\n\nThe Honorable Kevin McCarthy\n\nRepublican Leader\n\nUnited States House of Representatives\n\nDear Congressional Leadership:\n\nAs we wrap up the year and finalize the negotiations on Fiscal Year 2020 appropriations, we urge you to include No Budget, No Pay as part of any end-of-year spending package.\n\nAppropriating funds is the most basic duty of Congress, but for the past 40 years, Congress has cut corners by passing short-term spending bills \u2013 Continuing Resolutions \u2013 that just keep government funded at existing levels.\n\nWhen Congress fails to pass appropriations, American people are hurt. Just this year, American families suffered under the longest government shutdown in U.S. history. Air traffic controllers, members of the Coast Guard, and fire safety officials worked without pay, while Members of Congress continued to receive their paychecks.\n\nThat is wrong, and we\u2019re urging you to move forward with No Budget, No Pay before the end of the year. The concept is simple: Members of Congress should not be paid if they don\u2019t pass appropriations. If Congress can\u2019t do its most basic task, then Members of Congress shouldn\u2019t get a paycheck.\n\nThis proposal has bipartisan support and is already moving through Congress. It was approved by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee in June, and is included as part of the Prevent Government Shutdowns Act (S. 1877).\n\nWithholding paychecks from Members of Congress who fail to pass appropriations is an important step to prevent government shutdowns, which hurt the economy and millions of everyday Americans. But it\u2019s also an important step to promote fiscal responsibility.\n\nWe are elected to represent the citizens of our states and districts. When they don\u2019t do their job, there are consequences, and that same standard should apply to Congress. We look forward to continuing to work with you to make important reforms so Washington works better for all Americans.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-06-27T23:45:33Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://bergman.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=499"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.6171322204172611, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}