Editor's Note: (Kurt Schrader, D-Oregon, is the US representative of Oregon's 5th district. Ralph Norman, R-South Carolina, is the US representative of South Carolina's 5th district. The views expressed here are solely those of the authors. View more opinion articles on CNN.)
(CNN) Today in America, there seems to be one profession that will still give you a paycheck, even if you do not do your job: member of Congress.
Today marks day 33 of the longest government shutdown in history. As government workers and public servants across the country face the difficult decision about how they are going to pay their bills, the only ones guaranteed a paycheck are members of Congress. In fact, it's written into the Constitution that Congress must be paid, even during a shutdown.
We -- a Democrat from Oregon and a Republican from South Carolina -- do not think this is fair, right, or appropriate, so we are doing something about it. Along with 100 of our colleagues from the House and the Senate, we have asked for our pay to be withheld during this shutdown. And, like some of our colleagues, we both plan to donate the paychecks we've received during this shutdown to charitable organizations. But that alone is not enough.
The 27th Amendment to the Constitution expressly prohibits members of Congress from altering their own pay in the middle of a Congress. It appropriately prevents elected leaders from giving themselves bloated salaries; however, it inadvertently also prevents Congress from cutting our pay during a shutdown.
We think it is appalling that Congress is paid when the government shuts down, and now is the time to bring a dose of reality to Washington. If we cannot do our jobs, we have failed the American people and therefore have not earned our pay -- plain and simple.
Together, we've introduced a bipartisan constitutional amendment and bipartisan legislation to make a change. Both pieces of legislation were introduced on January 3, 2019, the first day of the 116th Congress -- 12 days after the shutdown began. Our amendment, H.J.Res. 18, would singularly alter the 27th Amendment to allow Congress to decrease our own paychecks while maintaining the primary intent of preventing members from giving themselves a raise.
You may remember from a civics class that amending the Constitution rightfully requires a two-thirds majority in both the House and the Senate, before being ratified by the states. In today's political climate, it can sometimes feel like getting two-thirds of any group, especially Congress, to agree on anything is an impossible task.
While amending the Constitution is the ultimate goal, we are still realists.
As another option, we have a bipartisan bill -- H.R.211, the Hold Congress Accountable Act. The bill is written such that for this and any other shutdown during this Congress, members' pay will be held in an escrow account and released at the end of the Congress. If it becomes law, beginning in the next Congress, after the 2020 elections, members' pay during any lapse in appropriations -- whether it's a full or partial shutdown -- would be canceled altogether. This allows us to achieve our goal of withholding congressional pay for our failures without violating the Constitution.
This is not a partisan issue. The consequences of a government shutdown do not see urban or rural, male or female, young or old, red or blue. During a shutdown, particularly a long one, everyone struggles. Members of Congress ought to feel the same urgency that our constituents face as bills are piling up with no end in clear sight.
If we cannot complete the number one job we were elected to do here, to keep the government open and operational, we certainly do not deserve a paycheck.