Update: Rep. Jackie Speier wants her pay to be withheld during shutdown

Congresswoman Jackie Speier in San Francisco, Calif., on Thursday, October 11, 2018. Speier is donating her pay in solidarity for the duration of the government shutdown. Congresswoman Jackie Speier in San Francisco, Calif., on Thursday, October 11, 2018. Speier is donating her pay in solidarity for the duration of the government shutdown. Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle Buy photo Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 15 Caption Close Update: Rep. Jackie Speier wants her pay to be withheld during shutdown 1 / 15 Back to Gallery

Editor's note, Jan. 12, 2019: Rep. Jackie Speier's office has since clarified that she is having her pay withheld until an appropriations agreement has taken effect. She will not be donating her salary as she previously stated via social media.

The bulk of federal workers may not be getting paid during the government shutdown, but the same can't be said for the most visible employees of the federal government: The 538 members of Congress, who continue to collect paychecks as normal as the shutdown drags into its 21st day.

Congresswoman Jackie Speier, D-Calif., announced Friday that she'll be donating her salary for the duration of the shutdown in solidarity with those going without pay.

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"Standing in solidarity with the more than 800,000 federal government employees furloughed or forced to work without pay and refusing my salary during the #TrumpShutdown," Speier wrote on Twitter late Friday morning. "I am donating my pay, as I have done during previous shutdowns."

SFGATE has reached out to Speier's office to find out where she plans to donate the money and will update when we hear back.

Members of Congress keep getting paid when the government shuts down because their salaries aren't funded through annual appropriations, but instead through permanent law (their staff, on the other hand, will earn retroactive pay at best). Former Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., and Sen. Bob Casey, D-Penn., proposed a law requiring Congress and the president forego pay during a shutdown back in 2011 and again in 2013, but it died in the House both times.

Other members of Congress who have chosen to give away their pay during the shutdown include Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Rep. Max Rose, D-NY, Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Rep. Kevin Hern, R-Okla.

MORE: How the shutdown is hurting small towns outside Yosemite

Speier has also gone to some creative lengths to make a statement about the shutdown's effects. Earlier in the week, she teamed up with Rep. Jared Huffman, D-Calif. to deliver trash that had accumulated in NorCal parks to the White House.

Filipa Ioannou is an SFGATE staff writer. Email her at fioannou@sfchronicle.com and follow her on Twitter