From left to right: Representatives James Lankford (withheld his pay), Eric Cantor (did not respond), Pete Sessions (did not pledge) and John Boehner (withheld). J. Scott Applewhite/AP
Most Lawmakers Who Promised To Donate or Withhold Their Salaries Actually Did it
Nearly $500,000 was donated to various charities and $87,400 was returned to the general treasury because of the government shutdown, according to a Washington Post report.
Our legislative branch may have failed at keeping the government open last year, but it turns out that most of the senators and representatives who promised to withhold or give their shutdown salaries back did just that.
According to the Washington Post's research, of the 237 (or 244 -- the Post has both numbers in its articles) lawmakers who made the promise, nearly 150 of them have either given their salaries to charity, refused to accept them until the government re-opened, or gave them back to the Treasury. And that number could increase -- some legislators who didn't get back to the Post in time for the article did so after it published, so the Post has been updating its list accordingly.
Nearly $500,000 was donated to various charities and $87,400 was returned to the treasury, though some of charity recipients interviewed seemed to have preferred that the government hadn't been shut down at all. Others were just happy to get the money, with one woman who runs a charity for abused children noting that it would "help a lot of kids."