A Senator Can Miss Every Vote, Collect $174,000, and Face No Formal Penalty. JJ Johnson Says That Ends.

NewsOnScale Staff

September 13, 2026

Senator Mitch McConnell has been absent from the Senate since June 14, 2026. Between June 15 and August 8 he missed 60 of 60 roll call votes. He last voted on June 11. As of late August he had not been seen in public for at least 75 days.

He continues to receive his $174,000 annual salary.

There is no Senate rule requiring senators to show up. There is no law requiring them to vote. There is no salary forfeiture for extended absence. The only formal remedies are expulsion by a two-thirds Senate vote — which has occurred only three times in American history, all during the Civil War — or waiting for the next election.

Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear wrote to McConnell office repeatedly seeking a health update. He received no response.

The Accountability Gap

The United States Senate is a co-equal branch of government. Senators confirm Supreme Court justices, ratify treaties, authorize military expenditures, and pass legislation affecting every American. A senator who cannot perform those functions and refuses to resign so someone who can perform them can be appointed represents a genuine accountability failure.

This is not a partisan observation. It is a structural one. The Senate has no mechanism to compel transparency from an incapacitated member, no attendance requirement, and no salary forfeiture provision for extended unexcused absence.

The same accountability gap that allows a senator to miss every vote for months applies to every member of Congress. Representatives and senators are elected to do a job. There is currently no enforceable requirement that they show up to do it.

What JJ Johnson Would Do

JJ Johnson is a declared candidate for President of the United States in the 2028 election cycle. His position is straightforward.

Elected officials are employees of the American people. They are paid with taxpayer money. They are elected to perform specific constitutional duties. An employee who does not show up to work does not continue to receive a paycheck. That principle should apply to Congress.

Johnson supports mandatory attendance requirements for Congress with salary forfeiture provisions for extended unexcused absences and mandatory public health disclosure requirements for members who are unable to perform their duties. When a senator cannot vote their constituents are functionally unrepresented. That is a constitutional problem that deserves a direct remedy.

These are not novel ideas. Mandatory attendance requirements, term limits, and salary forfeiture proposals have been introduced in Congress repeatedly. They have not passed because the people who would be subject to them are the people who vote on them.

That is the problem.

DISCLOSURE: NewsOnScale is an independent media publication operated by AMILLI AI CORP. JJ Johnson is the founder of AMILLI AI CORP and a declared candidate for President of the United States in 2028.