1. United States
2. Va.
3. Letter

Dear Members of Congress, For decades, Republican members of Congress have lectured Americans about welfare dependency, government handouts, and the moral virtue of hard work. We are writing to ask a simple question: by your own standards, what do you call collecting $174,000 a year while working 65 days? Because as of today, September 16, 2026, that is exactly what the House of Representatives has done. According to No Labels' analysis, the House has held floor votes on just 65 days through August 31 — the fewest at this point in any midterm year since 1994. The House spent just 383 hours in session — the lowest on record going back to at least 1990. Congress has passed just 34 public bills into law — also a record low. The average American worker put in approximately 165 days during that same period. And now Speaker Johnson has cancelled the last two weeks of September entirely. Members of Congress will not return to work until mid-November — seven weeks before the midterm elections. This is the same Republican majority that cut SNAP benefits for 47 million food insecure Americans, gutted Medicaid, and repeatedly invoked the specter of people “living off the government” to justify stripping the safety net from the most vulnerable Americans. To our Democratic senators and representatives: we are asking you to take a public pledge to refuse your paycheck for every day Republican leadership calls Congress out of session. Put your salary where your principles are. Show your constituents the difference between a party that shows up and a party that lectures Americans about hard work from a record-breaking part-time job. Work the days. Earn the pay. Or give it back.