Report: More than 100 U.S. lawmakers gave up pay after shutdown

WASHINGTON, Feb. 27 (UPI) -- At least 109 of 237 U.S. lawmakers who vowed to give up some of their federal salaries after the 16-day government shutdown did so, the Washington Post said.

A Post analysis conducted five months after the rancorous 2013 partial shutdown indicates Washington lawmakers contributed more than $465,000 to charities, or returned portions of their salary to the Treasury.

The beneficiaries of the giving included food banks, veterans groups, crisis pregnancy centers, the Boy Scouts of America, religious aid organizations and even high school sports teams.

About 90 of the 237 members who said they planned to make donations ignored repeated requests by the newspaper for detailed information on their follow through.

The largest single donation reported was by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., who gave $10,000 to the Consortium of Catholic Academies, a non-profit supporting Catholic school students in inner city Washington.

Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D. -- a breast cancer survivor -- gave $2,000 to a breast cancer awareness organization called "Beer for Boobs." Rep. Keith Rothus, R-Pa., gave a donation to a Pittsburgh television station to buy Thanksgiving turkeys for the underprivileged.

Federal lawmakers earn $174,000 a year, but the Post says an analysis indicates most members of Congress are worth at least $1 million a year.

At least 13 lawmakers gave back a combined more than $80,000 to the government.

The wealthiest members of Congress including Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., Rep. Jared Polis, D-Conn., and Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn. -- routinely give their congressional salaries to charity or family foundations.

Congress voted to pay idled federal workers for the time they lost at work during the government shutdown.