More Than 100 Lawmakers Donated Shutdown Pay

At least 116 of some 240 members of Congress who promised to give away part of their earnings during last fall’s 16-day government shutdown have followed through on the pledge, The Washington Post writes.

The lawmakers collectively donated nearly $500,000 to charities or back to the government to help pay down the deficit, the Post says, citing congressional reports on pay returned to the treasury and questions sent to all 237 legislators who said during the shutdown that they would give up wages.

Eighty legislators did not respond to the queries, while seven who had not previously announced plans to donate disclosed gifts after the newspaper’s findings were published online Thursday.

Craig Holman of watchdog group Public Citizen said he is not aware of any other such mass refund by members of Congress. “This is the right thing for lawmakers to do, but they really were not doing it for the right reasons,” he said. “The real reason is they wanted to avoid looking callous to America after being unable to govern.”