WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate unanimously approved a resolution on Thursday to withhold senators' pay during government shutdowns, with the measure taking effect the day after the Nov. 3 general election. The resolution, which passed by voice vote, does not apply to members of the House of Representatives.

Under the measure, the secretary of the Senate would withhold senators' pay whenever a government shutdown affects one or more agencies. The withheld pay would be released once funding is restored.

Republican Senator John Kennedy sponsored the resolution. "Shutting down government should not be our default solution to our refusal to work out our issues and our differences," Kennedy said. "This is about putting our money where our mouth is."

Asked why the resolution applies only to senators, Kennedy said, "The House's business is the House's business."

The vote followed two prolonged funding lapses in the past year. A 43-day lapse of the entire federal government, the longest federal closure on record, was followed months later by a 76-day partial shutdown at the Department of Homeland Security, the longest agency funding lapse in history. The DHS shutdown ended last month. Tens of thousands of federal workers went without pay during the two closures, particularly at DHS.

When the full government shutdown began in October during a dispute over health care subsidies, Senator Lindsey Graham proposed a constitutional amendment requiring members of Congress to forfeit their paychecks when the government is closed. "If members of Congress had to forfeit their pay during government shutdowns, there would be fewer shutdowns and they would end quicker," Graham said.