Democrat Abigail Spanberger Wants to Block Congressional Pay Until Debt Ceiling Is Raised

Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-VA) wants to block members of Congress from being paid “until the debt ceiling crisis is resolved.”

In a letter on Friday to U.S. House Chief Administrative Officer Catherine Szpindor on Friday, the congresswoman asked her to make “preparations” to block lawmakers’ pay until the debt ceiling is raised. President Joe Biden has yet to come to an agreement with House Republicans.

“If the American people and the American economy are suffering as a result of congressional inaction, then Members of Congress should not be rewarded with their pay,” she wrote. “America’s working families understand the basic principles of fairness — if you don’t do your job, you don’t get paid.”

The congresswoman acknowledged that Szpindor is “constrained by” rules from Congress and “other applicable laws and rules,” but still asked the official to “prepare to withhold Members of Congress’ pay until Congress passes, and the President signs, legislation to raise the debt ceiling and pay our country’s bills.”

Notably, the congresswoman blamed a deal not being made on raising the debt ceiling on House Republican leadership because she believes a bill was passed through the lower chamber in “bad faith” that “has no chance of moving forward in the U.S. Senate.”

This is despite President Joe Biden’s having refused to negotiate with GOP leadership until recently.

House Republicans passed legislation last month — the Limit, Save, Grow Act of 2023 — which would raise the debt ceiling by $1.5 trillion while tackling America’s national deficit by saving the government an estimated $4.8 trillion over the next ten years.

Then, after the passage of the bill, and after nearly 100 days of not being willing to negotiate, Biden called House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) to finally start negotiating on the debt ceiling. As of Monday there is still no deal.

Jacob Bliss is a reporter for Breitbart News. Write to him at jbliss@breitbart.com or follow him on Twitter @JacobMBliss.