Kean says he’ll forgo salary if government shuts down

As Congress barrels towards a government shutdown deadline tomorrow night with no clear off-ramp, Rep. Tom Kean Jr. (R-Westfield) says that he’ll decline his congressional salary as long as the government is closed and federal workers aren’t getting paid.

The House has passed a two-month stopgap funding bill with Kean’s support, but the bill lacks buy-in from Democrats, who want it to include a variety of health care provisions as well as guardrails against President Donald Trump’s ability to revoke funds. Senate Democrats, among them New Jersey Senators Andy Kim and Cory Booker, have blocked the bill in the Senate, which Kean said today is unacceptable.

“DC Democrats are playing political games and pushing our nation toward a shutdown that would be harmful to the American people,” Kean said in a statement. “The House has already passed a bipartisan funding bill based on the very spending framework that Democrats themselves supported in the past. It is unacceptable that vital government services are being threatened and that federal workers may be furloughed.”

Kean said he’s already made a formal request to U.S. House Chief Administrative Officer Catherine Szpindor that his paycheck be withheld if a shutdown starts tomorrow.

The congressman – who represents one of New Jersey’s most competitive districts, and is likely in for a tough fight in 2026 – made a similar salary promise in the leadup to a potential shutdown in September 2023, but that shutdown was unexpectedly averted at the last minute; it hasn’t always been pretty, but Congress has successfully kept the government funded throughout Kean’s entire congressional tenure.

Three other New Jersey House members (Mikie Sherrill, Josh Gottheimer, and Andy Kim) promised during that 2023 showdown that they wouldn’t take their salaries if the government shut down. Members of Congress get paid $174,000 a year, a salary unchanged since 2009.

Kim and Sherrill also didn’t accept paychecks when they were first sworn into the House in 2019, because the government was in its longest-ever shutdown at the time. Gottheimer, meanwhile, co-sponsored a bill last year to revoke pay for all members of Congress during shutdowns.

It’s still possible that congressional leaders will find a way to fund the government before tomorrow’s deadline; Trump and leaders of both parties in the House and Senate are set to meet this afternoon.