Rep. Cleaver Re-Introduces Legislation to Withhold Lawmaker Pay Following Mass Shootings
(Washington, D.C.) – Today, with more than 80 mass shootings already recorded in the United States in 2024, U.S. Representative Emanuel Cleaver, II (D-MO) re-introduced legislation to withhold pay from Members of Congress following mass shootings. The No Pay Until Peace Act would withhold one month’s paycheck from every Member of Congress each month there is a mass shooting in the United States.
“Whether it’s kids in classrooms, believers in their place of worship, or families at the local grocery store or community parade, it’s become abundantly clear that no amount of death or trauma will push far right politicians to take the action necessary to address America’s horrific gun violence epidemic—but maybe losing a paycheck or two will,” said Congressman Cleaver. “In less than one month, my congressional district has been traumatized by three separate mass shootings that led to the deaths of a police officer, a county official, and a prominent member of our local community. Nowhere else in the world do we see gun violence rates at the levels we see here in the United States. How many more beloved members of our community must experience gun violence, and the trauma that comes along with it, before we implement the gun safety reforms we know save lives?”
Firearms are now the leading cause of death among children in the United States, according to Everytown For Gun Safety. According to Giffords Law Center, Americans are 25 times more likely to be killed in a gun homicide than residents of other high-income countries, and across 29 other high-income countries, 93 percent of children ages 0 to 14-years-old killed by guns are from the United States. According to Third Way, 2022 was the 23rd consecutive year that murder plagued Republican-voting states at far higher levels than Democratic-voting states, with the average “red” state murder rate being 24% higher than “blue” state murder rate. These troubling statistics starkly illustrate the gun violence disparities between those states who have common sense gun safety laws on the books and which states do not.
Last Congress, Democrats in the House of Representatives passed multiple pieces of legislation to combat the increase of gun violence and mass shootings in communities throughout the nation, including the Bipartisan Background Checks Act and the Enhanced Background Checks Act, which were rejected by Republicans in the Senate.
“When state lawmakers make accessing firearms substantially easier than accessing critical reproductive care, it’s clear that we have our priorities backward,” said Congressman Cleaver. “And if thoughts and prayers are all that politicians have to offer the American public following mass shootings that occur every single day in the United States, then their paychecks should reflect the worthlessness of such proclamations. The No Pay Until Peace Act will not solve all the problems related to gun violence in America—but I hope it will at least force some members to realize their inaction comes at a very serious cost, not just to their communities but to their pocketbooks as well.”
Official text of the No Pay Until Peace Act is available here.
Emanuel Cleaver, II is the U.S. Representative for Missouri's Fifth Congressional District, which includes Kansas City, Independence, Lee's Summit, Raytown, Grandview, Sugar Creek, Greenwood, Blue Springs, North Kansas City, Gladstone, and Claycomo. He is a member of the exclusive House Financial Services Committee and Ranking Member of the House Subcommittee on Housing and Insurance.