Dozens of lawmakers declining their pay during government shutdown Rep. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) boasts that he's never missed making payroll with his family plumbing company and that he has no plans to start doing so as a member of Congress - even if it means not taking a paycheck himself. Everybody here is essential. If they weren't, I wouldn't hire them," he said. To help keep his workers on the job at a time of forced cutbacks, Mullin plans to forgo his congressional salary for every day of the government shutdown and return the funds to the U.S. Treasury, even though they may only be paid retroactively. He's one of dozens of members of the House and Senate who plan to refund or donate their pay during an impasse that congressional leaders are warning could last several weeks. Depending on the lawmaker, the money will go back into U.S. Treasury coffers to help pay down the debt, be placed in escrow or donated to the benefit of military veterans and local food banks. But the gesture is also likely to benefit their public image. While they say it's an issue of fairness and an opportunity to demonstrate solidarity with hundreds of thousands of government employees sent home without pay, the speed with which some lawmakers advertised their acts of political penance appeared designed to blunt public outrage over the impasse. As the House passed short-term spending bills and the Senate swiftly rejected them Monday night, some members began announcing their plans in written statements or through social media, making clear that they intended to participate in the pain. As the House on Tuesday and Wednesday continued passing short-term spending bills destined for failure in the Democratic-controlled Senate, even more lawmakers joined the fray - perhaps because it was all they could do while top leaders and the White House continued fighting. Rep. Rob Wittman (R-Va.) said via Twitter that he'd decline his pay "for every day the government is shut down," while Rep. Brad Schneider (D-Ill.) said he'd return his compensation "until Congress finds a sensible solution to this harmful shutdown." Picking up on the issue of fairness, Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.) said her pay would go to a charity in her home state, because "Right now, federal workers across North Dakota and the country who chose to work in public service have been forced to go without pay - including my Senate staff." Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) went a step further, saying in a 40-second YouTube video that "I shouldn't get a congressional salary while other federal employees are denied the ability to go to work. I'm going to take my salary during the government shutdown and donate it to the Wounded Warrior Project. Rep. Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio) also plans to donate his pay to wounded warriors and Cincinnati's Freestore Foodbank. I can't accept a salary while veterans and government employees are left empty-handed. It's not appropriate and it's not fair," he said in a statement. A spokesman for the Wounded Warrior Project said the group is grateful for the impending congressional donations, but "most importantly, we hope for an immediate resolution to the budget and debt ceiling debates."