There really is not a lot of sense to introducing unConstitutional bills. Any pay changes have to wait until the next Congress, when voters have voted on the current crop.

DACA protections put back in place and the childrens CHIP healthcare is funded.

Our elected representatives would probably have a different order of business if they were the last Government expense to be appropriated. They should get nothing, no pay, no office expenses, no travel, no health insurance until everything else in the Government is funded.

When you are able to approve your own pay and benefits, it is much easier to understand how much you deserve more.

let the govt. go dark, and yet find some semantic wiggle room to explain why they get paid, but no one else that depends on govt. does?

As has been pointed out, it has no legs, Constitutionally (I'm relying on people much more knowledgeable about it than I), and even if it did, avarice would almost surely carry the day. But what a body punch to the PR dept of Planet Douche.

They are rolling in non-traceable, non-taxable funds from so many sources. Some built into the code but most under-the-counter, coming from the US and overseas.

I can't remember who said it, but something like "Paying taxes is for the little people."

It's one thing to do tax avoidance, and we all want to; but it's another to not declare, to god or the IRS, what you are reaping from lying/cheating/screwing the US.