$7.258 billion. A floor that sits fewer days than a school year. Work the hours or resign.
Renee Stewart · 2026-09-02 · © 2026 Renee Stewart. All rights reserved.
Receipts
You pay the legislative branch $7.258 billion this year. Public Law 119-37. The House takes $2.083 billion. The Senate $1.467 billion. Capitol Police nearly $882 million. The Library, the Architect, GAO, CBO, the publishing office — the rest of the campus that never goes home. A member’s $174,500 is the decoy. The machine is the bill. The floor still sits fewer days than a school year.
No other job in this country pays that, plus a pension after five years, plus health coverage, plus a million-dollar office allowance, and then treats call time with donors as the real session. They lecture the country about essential workers from a chamber that keeps banker’s hours. Faithfully discharge the duties of the office is the oath they recited. 5 U.S.C. § 3331. Part-time is not faithful.
In session means in the building. Work the hours or resign.
House and Senate rules can require it on day one. A majority writes those rules. Article I, Section 5 already lets a chamber punish and expel. The ballot does the rest. This is not a street. It is an employee policy for people who already took your money. Full time or go home. Independent. No PAC. Not a call to violence.
