The longest government shutdown in American history came to an end this past week, with the 43-day event disrupting food assistance payouts, travel and more pieces of the economy.
While some Americans faced hardship during the shutdown and more than one million Federal employees received no pay, members of Congress collected their full weekly pay. Here’s a look at how much the members made during the government shutdown.
Congress Gets Paid
The 100 members of the U.S. Senate and 435 members of the House of Representatives each received their pay during the government shutdown, as protected by the U.S. Constitution.
With annual salaries of $174,000, base members of Congress are paid around $476.71 per day. This means that most members of Congress collected $20,498.53 during the 43-day government shutdown.
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-La.) has an annual salary of $223,500, translating to a daily rate of $612.33. This means Johnson got paid $26,330 during the government shutdown.
According to a report from the New York Post, some members of Congress did not take salary during the shutdown.
The office of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) told the Post that he did not take a salary during the government shutdown. A total of around 55 Senators didn’t collect their paychecks according to the report.
Other members like Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) have said they would donate their check amounts during the shutdown to charity.
Did You Know?
Republicans Get Blame
A recent Morning Consult poll showed President Donald Trump’s approval rating falling during the government shutdown, going from 46% before to 44% during. Trump’s disapproval rating rose from 52% before the shutdown to 54% during.
The poll found that 63% of voters said they had seen, read, or heard “a lot” about the government shutdown, making it the top story for several weeks. Other items that were top of mind for voters included flight cancellations and SNAP funding, both of which were also affected by the government shutdown.
Trump’s falling approval rating was not the only poor result for the Republican Party in the Morning Consult poll.
The latest poll showed that 46% of voters believe the Republicans are at fault for the government shutdown, more than the 38% who blame the Democratic Party.
The favorability ratings reflect the perceived blame in the poll.
Congressional Democrats have a 45% approval and 47% disapproval rating, compared to 44% approval and 46% disapproval before the government shutdown.
Congressional Republicans have a 40% approval and 52% disapproval rating, compared to 41% approval and 49% disapproval before the government shutdown.
In the poll, voters favored the Democratic Party to win the 2026 midterms at a 48% to 43% margin. Before the government shutdown, voters favored the Democrats 45% to 41%.
Market Shaken After Shutdown Ends
The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE:SPY), which tracks the S&P 500, closed lower after the shutdown ended.
The ETF closed Wednesday at $683.38 and fell to $671.93 at close on Friday, losing around 1.7% in the two trading days after the market reopened.
The last government shutdown was followed by a boost for the stock market.
The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust closed at $240.70 on Dec. 21, 2018, ahead of the deadline, which was on a weekend. On January 25, 2019, the ETF closed at $265.78, up 10.4% from its closing price prior to the shutdown.
The year 2019 went on to be one of the best years investors have seen in some time, with the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust up 31.2% for the whole year.
This is the best return for the ETF over the last 11 years, indicating that the previous longest government shutdown in history was only a minor factor in 2019 and did not significantly impact markets at the start of the year.
Time will tell if there is a government shutdown and if history repeats itself with a short-term market drop followed by strong returns.
The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust is currently up 14.9% year-to-date in 2025, but up only 1.5% over the past month. The funding bill passed to end the shutdown covers the government through Jan. 30, which could provide some uncertainty over the next two months ahead of another potential shutdown.
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