No Pay for Disarray Act

I 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 141 To reduce the pay of Members of the House of Representatives if a Speaker is not elected on the first day of a Congress. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JANUARY 9, 2023 Ms. CRAIG introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on House Administration, and in addition to the Committee on Oversight and Accountability, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To reduce the pay of Members of the House of Representa- tives if a Speaker is not elected on the first day of a Congress. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘No Pay for Disarray 4 Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. REDUCTION OF PAY OF MEMBERS OF HOUSE IF 6 SPEAKER IS NOT ELECTED. 7 (a) REDUCTION OF PAY.— 8 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:25 Jan 17, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H141.IH H141 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 2 •HR 141 IH (1) REDUCTION.—If, by the end of the first day 1 of a Congress, the House of Representatives has not 2 elected a Speaker, the annual rate of pay applicable 3 under section 601(a) of the Legislative Reorganiza- 4 tion Act of 1946 (2 U.S.C. 4501) with respect to 5 each Member of the House of Representatives for 6 the year shall be reduced by an amount equal to the 7 product of— 8 (A) an amount equal to one day’s worth of 9 pay under such annual rate; and 10 (B) the number of 24-hour periods occur- 11 ring during the Congress during which no 12 Speaker has been elected for the Congress. 13 (2) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This subsection shall 14 apply with respect to the One Hundred Nineteenth 15 Congress and each succeeding Congress. 16 (b) RULE FOR ONE HUNDRED EIGHTEENTH CON- 17 GRESS.— 18 (1) HOLDING SALARIES IN ESCROW.—If, by the 19 end of the first day of the One Hundred Eighteenth 20 Congress, the House of Representatives has not 21 elected a Speaker, the Chief Administrative Officer 22 of the House of Representatives, or an employee of 23 the Office of the Chief Administrative Officer who is 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:25 Jan 17, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H141.IH H141 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 3 •HR 141 IH designated by the Chief Administrative Officer to 1 carry out this Act, shall— 2 (A) deposit in an escrow account and ex- 3 clude from the payments otherwise required to 4 be made for the compensation of each Member 5 of the House of Representatives with respect to 6 a pay period during which the House has not 7 elected a Speaker an amount equal to the prod- 8 uct of— 9 (i) the daily rate of pay of the Mem- 10 ber under section 601(a) of the Legislative 11 Reorganization Act of 1946 (2 U.S.C. 12 4501); and 13 (ii) the number of 24-hour periods 14 during which no Speaker has been elected 15 for the One Hundred Eighteenth Congress; 16 and 17 (B) release amounts deposited in an es- 18 crow account under subparagraph (A) to such 19 Member of the House of Representatives only 20 upon the expiration of the period described in 21 paragraph (2). 22 (2) PERIOD DESCRIBED.—The period described 23 in this paragraph is the period that— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:25 Jan 17, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H141.IH H141 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 4 •HR 141 IH (A) begins on the first day of the One 1 Hundred Eighteenth Congress; and 2 (B) ends on the earlier of— 3 (i) the date on the House elects a 4 Speaker for the One Hundred Eighteenth 5 Congress; or 6 (ii) the last day of the One Hundred 7 Eighteenth Congress. 8 (3) WITHHOLDING AND REMITTANCE OF 9 AMOUNTS FROM PAYMENTS HELD IN ESCROW.—The 10 Chief Administrative Officer of the House of Rep- 11 resentatives, or an employee of the Office of the 12 Chief Administrative Officer who is designated by 13 the Chief Administrative Officer to carry out this 14 Act, shall provide for the same withholding and re- 15 mittance with respect to a payment deposited in an 16 escrow account under paragraph (1) that would 17 apply to the payment if the payment were not sub- 18 ject to paragraph (1). 19 (4) RELEASE OF AMOUNTS AT END OF THE 20 CONGRESS.—In order to ensure that this subsection 21 is carried out in a manner that shall not vary the 22 compensation of Representatives in violation of the 23 twenty-seventh amendment to the Constitution of 24 the United States, the Chief Administrative Officer 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:25 Jan 17, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H141.IH H141 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 5 •HR 141 IH of the House of Representatives, or an employee of 1 the Office of the Chief Administrative Officer who is 2 designated by the Chief Administrative Officer to 3 carry out this Act, shall release for payment to 4 Members of the House of Representatives any 5 amounts remaining in any escrow account under this 6 section on the last day of the One Hundred Eight- 7 eenth Congress. 8 (c) MEMBER DEFINED.—In this section, the term 9 ‘‘Member of the House of Representatives’’ means an indi- 10 vidual serving in a position in the House of Representa- 11 tives which is covered under subparagraph (A), (B), or 12 (C) of section 601(a)(1) of the Legislative Reorganization 13 Act of 1946 (2 U.S.C. 4501(1)). 14 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:25 Jan 17, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H141.IH H141 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB