The current government shutdown impacts hundreds of thousands of federal workers, both those directly employed by the government and contractors who are not.

During the shutdown, furloughed federal employees and contractors are not paid, but furloughed workers will get back pay when the shutdown ends, even though they were essentially laid off and didn't actually work. Some workers, including members of Congress, are still paid during shutdowns because they are considered essential, but contractors may never be paid for the time they would have worked during a shutdown.

Currently, workers contracted by the federal government outnumber full federal workers two to one, but since they are not employed directly, they will lose work time and pay during the shutdown, which looks like it could be a protracted one.

Some workers, like the Coast Guard, TSA, and Border Patrol will still be on the job but without pay (until the shutdown ends, when they will be paid their back pay immediately).

Most unfair circumstance

But the most unfair circumstance of all, in the eyes of many, is that the members of Congress who caused the shutdown will keep getting paid through the whole thing. The President also gets paid, but Donald Trump said his salary is donated anyway.

In my opinion, lawmakers are the first ones who should get their paychecks cut during a shutdown.

Doing so would be a huge motivator to end the shutdown for many (although some lawmakers are wealthy and don't need their congressional pay).

The staff members of those lawmakers also don't get paid during the shutdown, but will get paid when it ends.

It's in the Constitution

But lawmakers get paid from a permanent appropriation, so that funding is available whether anything else gets funded or not.

Article I, Section 6 of the Constitution states: “The Senators and Representatives shall receive a Compensation for their Services, to be ascertained by Law, and paid out of the Treasury of the United States.”

This means there would have to be a constitutional amendment to change things, and that's incredibly unlikely.

Some lawmakers have said they don't want to be paid during the shutdown.

The Hill quoted Rep. Kat Cammack (R-FL) as saying, “If our military isn’t being paid, neither should members of Congress.”

Sen. Andy Kim, (D-NJ) agreed, saying, “Government leaders shouldn’t be playing with other people’s chips.”