McConnell, Mitch: Rules and administration will come to order. Today our committee meets to consider Senate Resolution 526, which is based on a simple idea. If Congress can't keep the lights on, the United States Senate shouldn't expect to be paid as usual. And the federal government grounds to a halt, but elected officials continue to collect full salaries without interruption. The American people are right to be frustrated. This resolution, authored by Senator Kennedy, is an attempt to address that disconnect. It would set up a clear process after the next general election in the event of a government shutdown. Senators would see their pay withheld and released only after the government reopens. Now let me say at the outset, this resolution does not absolve us from doing our job. The best way to avoid shutdowns is and has always been to pass a full-year appropriations bill on time. Shutdowns happen because we fail to uphold our responsibility and accountability matters. So I appreciate Senator Kennedy offering this resolution. It's straightforward and it reflects the basic reality that Congress failures have wide-ranging consequences. With that, I now recognize my colleague, Senator Padilla.
SPEAKER_05: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Good to see you and all of our colleagues here as folks can continue to trickle in. This committee has a unique charge of upholding the Senate's traditions and procedures with the purpose of helping the Senate as a body function and function on a bipartisan basis. And it's in that spirit that I want to thank you, Mr. Chairman, Senator Kennedy, and your staffs for your willingness to work with us to address some of the significant concerns that we had with the original version of this resolution. Now, the version of the resolution before us today that we're considering today does reflect changes that we requested as well as changes that were requested by the Secretary of the Senate in order to reduce the legal, constitutional, and operational issues with the original resolution. And because of those changes, I will be recommending that we vote in favor of sending this resolution out of committee and to the full Senate for further consideration. But before we do that, I do want to briefly raise a couple of points that I think the full Senate should consider and address before final adoption. First, I believe that we should treat members of the House and the members of the Senate in the same way. Under the Senate rules, legislation to do that would be referred to the Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee. The current resolution before us is before us only because it impacts members of the Senate and does not speak to members of the House. But by doing so, it would place the Senate on unequal footing with the House and potentially adversely complicate shutdown negotiations in the future. Second, I appreciate the key changes to take into account the 27th Amendment of the Constitution. And I'll quote, No law bearing the compensation...