Photo: Alamy
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Tex., announced that he has requested that the Financial Clerk of the Senate put a hold on his salary as the partial government shutdown continues.
He described his decision on X, blaming the Democrats’ shutdown. “It’s not right for Members of Congress to be paid if the working men and women of DHS aren’t,” he said.
This came just after Democrats blocked a Resolution to withhold Senate pay during government shutdowns. The bill was introduced by Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., who has long supported pay freezes for politicians during government shutdowns.
“This resolution—again, it is not a bill—is about shared sacrifice. And I am not doing it to punish anybody. I am not doing it to try to embarrass anybody,” Kennedy stated on the Senate floor. “It is about shared sacrifice and sending a message. We have about a squillion employees at the Department of Homeland Security that aren’t being paid, and there is no prospect of them being paid.”
Government is supposed to bring order, not disorder.
— John Kennedy (@SenJohnKennedy) March 24, 2026
When Congress fails at even that bare-minimum role, senators’ paychecks shouldn’t keep rolling in.
The Democrats may have blocked my resolution to stop paying senators during shutdowns, but mark my words: I WILL try again. pic.twitter.com/Gz2QKVWVMj
Kennedy later called it “unacceptable” in an interview on Fox News shared to X. “Government is supposed to bring order, not disorder. When Congress fails at even that bare-minimum role, senators’ paychecks shouldn’t keep rolling in,” he wrote, noting that he will keep pushing.
The American Federation of Government Employees (EFGE) issued a statement calling for Department of Homeland Security (DHS) workers to be paid as the partial government shutdown entered its sixth week. They noted that approximately 90 percent of DHS’s 260,000 workers are continuing their duties without compensation.
This includes thousands of TSA workers, hundreds of whom have quit over the shutdown, per AP News, and has affected airline travel to the point that President Donald Trump has deployed ICE agents to help alleviate the ongoing burden.
The White House celebrated these ICE agents on X, thanking them for their service and calling them “True Patriots.”
Huge thanks to our ICE agents deployed at airports nationwide, helping keep TSA lines moving so Americans can fly safe and on time! True patriots 🇺🇸pic.twitter.com/CJX1U101NO
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) March 24, 2026
According to the New York Post, Democrats have blocked funding bills for the DHS in an attempt to reform ICE practices, as the Trump administration continues to deport illegal aliens from the United States. This drew criticism from Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., who stated, “I refuse to always vote to shut our government down, and I would never be a part of this mess.”
Senator Cruz has also criticized leaders who prolong the shutdown, but he isn’t waiting for legislation to freeze his pay; he has voluntarily given up his salary in support of DHS workers and properly funding important government departments.