Senators will now go without pay during future government shutdowns, but for many, they don’t need the paycheck. 

The Senate unanimously agreed to forgo their paychecks during future shutdowns, with the money being withheld until a deal is struck to reopen the government. But much of the upper chamber is populated with lawmakers who are already wealthy before their time in office. 

“There are some members who are very independently wealthy that their congressional paycheck is a rounding error to their investments,” Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., told Fox News Digital. “Fine, I’m not pejorative of that at all. But we need to actually end government shutdowns.” 

SENATORS AGREE TO GO WITHOUT PAY DURING SHUTDOWNS AFTER HISTORIC CLOSURES LEFT WORKERS UNPAID

In the last year, Congress has been unable to keep the government open twice. The first time for 43 days, and the most recent for 76 days.

Republicans worry that before the midterm elections, and before the rule change becomes official, that Senate Democrats may again try to shutter the government to gain a political edge. They hope that the rule change, pushed by Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., is at least enough to convince some lawmakers not to do it. 

However, nearly three-quarters of the Senate are millionaires, according to an analysis of financial disclosure data reviewed by Fox News Digital and first reported by NOTUS, meaning the fear of missing a paycheck may not be enough to quell the desire to score political points. 

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“It certainly doesn’t stop future shutdowns,” Lankford said. “It just says, ‘Hey, people are not being paid, we’re not being paid either.’”

Others were more optimistic that by installing the new guardrails on themselves, it could open the door to future legislation that may take shutdowns off the table entirely — like Lankford’s bill that would automatically extend government funding on a temporary, two-week basis if lawmakers miss the mark. 

Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, who is one of the wealthier members of the Senate, believed that the success of Kennedy’s resolution could open the valve to his legislation that would dock members’ pay during shutdowns. 

“It’s about brick by brick, rebuilding confidence in the institution,” Moreno told Fox News Digital.

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Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., another of the Senate’s wealthiest members, contended that lawmakers shouldn’t hold federal workers “hostage based on what we’re doing.” 

Over the past several months, hundreds of thousands of federal employees went without pay. And in the case of workers under the purview of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), they went without paychecks twice. 

“Hopefully it’ll get people to focus on getting [appropriations] done, because, you know, we don’t have a process to get this stuff done,” Scott told Fox News Digital. 

Meanwhile, Kennedy, who successfully pushed Senate Republican leadership to put the bill on the floor, viewed its success as progress.

But it’s not as far as he wanted to go. 

“Look, if I were king for a day, I would pass a bill that doesn’t suspend member pay, it forfeits member pay during a shutdown,” Kennedy told Fox News Digital. “And I will also include in the bill a prohibition against members leaving Washington while we’re in a shutdown. But I don’t have the votes to do that. So I’m doing as much as I can.”

People aren’t ordering a bottle of wine for the table the way they used to, according to a new report. But industry experts say restaurants are making up for the revenue shortfall in other ways.

“We believe habits have shifted away from a group ordering a bottle of (typically red) wine to share with dinner in favor of the individuals in the group choosing their own preferred drink,” Liberty Wines, a U.K.-based distributor, reported in its “Premium On-Trade Wine Report 2026.”

The reasons for the new trend are myriad, say experts. More consumers are prioritizing healthy living, culinary options and conscious spending.

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The U.S. wine industry is grappling with one of its most painful downturns in decades as younger consumers cut back on drinking and baby boomers age out of the market, as Fox News Digital reported earlier this year.

To recoup the hit from fewer bottle orders on their bottom lines, restaurant operators are raising prices elsewhere.

“What we’re seeing now is a real push into non-alcoholic spirits and zero-proof programs that carry the same price point as a craft cocktail,” Sri Divel, founder of California-based marketing and brand strategy firm The Culinary CMO, told Fox News Digital.

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“These aren’t the soda-and-lime mocktails of 10 years ago,” Divel said. “These are muddled, multi-step builds — far more intricate than what we’re used to seeing, with house-made syrups, fresh herbs, smoked elements, the works.”

The non-alcoholic drink takes the same time and skill to build as a $16 cocktail, Divel said.

So it commands the same price — “and the guests get a real experience instead of feeling like they’re being penalized for not drinking. Operators who lean into this are protecting their check averages and giving the non-drinking guest a reason to come back.”

EATING OUT GETTING MORE EXPENSIVE AS AMERICANS HIT ‘MENU PRICE FATIGUE’ NATIONWIDE

Monika Elling, CEO and founder of New York-based zero-sugar Prosecco company Lo Secco Prosecco, told Fox News Digital that restaurants “have priced drinks to no longer align with long-accepted, aggressive markups.”

Elling relayed an eye-watering bill she and a colleague received when they recently went out for drinks.

“She had an $18 mocktail, and I had a $27 martini,” Elling said. “The total with tax was $49, plus tip. We did not eat, yet we paid over $60 for two drinks.”

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Rather than going big on a bottle at a restaurant, Elling said that “people are opting to drink at home, pregame. [They’ll] drink one glass during dinner — no longer two drinks or a bottle of wine.”

“Two glasses at $14 to $18 each feels manageable,” Divel said.

“An $80 bottle feels like a commitment. The bottle used to be the default for a table of four. Now it’s the exception. Throw in the fact that guests can pull up the retail price on their phone and see your markup in real time, and the bottle is getting a much harder look than it used to.”

Vinny Catalano, the “vinfluencer” behind the California-based “Vines with Vinny” Instagram account, said he’s begun to see non-alcohol bubbles being offered “at prices comparable to alcoholic beverages.”

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Asked about the wine-drinking experience by the glass compared with a bottle, Catalano said, “If the wine has been opened that day and served the same day, then there’s little difference in the taste of the wine.”

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What is lost, though, Catalano told Fox News Digital, “is the romance of the experience of popping a bottle table-side.”

He added, “I feel that more bottles would actually be sold if people weren’t intimidated about talking to sommeliers.”

“I always engage the sommelier, talk about what we’re planning to eat, wine regions I like — and give a price cap of what I’m willing to spend. I have always gotten a great result, especially at places with big wine lists.”

Another option for people looking to keep the wine-bottle tradition alive while cutting costs is to bring their own bottle and pay for corkage, Catalano suggested.

Alison Sweeney has “no regrets” about getting away from the “rat race” that is Los Angeles.

In a recent interview with Fox News Digital, the 49-year-old actress spoke about her latest Hallmark movie, “Best Served Cold: A Hannah Swensen Mystery,” which she wrote and executive produced – based on the Hannah Swensen mysteries series of books by Joanne Fluke.  

The actress also touched on the reason she chose to move out of Los Angeles to Arizona, noting the move came from “really wanting to create a great environment for my kids,” saying she doesn’t “regret it for a second.”

“One of the first things I noticed about myself was how less stressed out I was,” she explained. “They don’t call it a rat race for nothing, right? Like when you’re in those big cities and there’s always this energy and lots of people thrive on it, but I had reached my max capacity, and it was starting to really like weigh on me and be a source of real stress to me all the time.”

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She explained that their life in Arizona is “a lot more laid back,” noting that she is able to “work from home a lot more now” instead of going to the studio every day for different projects, including “Days of Our Lives.”

The “Romance at Hope Ranch” star and her husband “make a point of sort of appreciating” the slower-paced lifestyle.

“Now we’re here and our kids go to school, and we go to the school events, and we are learning to play golf, and we’re enjoying a lot of trips and travel and I go up to Canada to work, but there is a peaceful net.“

Her latest movie is the 14th installment in the Hannah Swensen franchise. Looking back on the success of the films, Sweeney called it “lightning in a bottle,” saying sometimes, as an actor, “you just can’t believe how lucky you are.”

When reflecting on the success of not only this franchise, but Hallmark movies in general, Sweeney said their focus on fun movies where “you probably know it’s going to be okay at the end” lends to the rewatch ability of the films, and gives them something positive to watch, noting if “you want to watch bloodshed, it’s out there, it’s happening.”

“When I meet people about these movies, I love hearing them say like, ‘oh, that scene,’ and then they can quote little sections of it or little funny lines that are their favorite moments,” she said.

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She added: “And that to me is like the most satisfying thing about being a part of a franchise like this is the longevity that allows people to approach you about a movie four years ago, five years ago, and they can just rattle off their favorite. Moments along the way and then you feel like oh, we’re really doing this together.”

Her movie, “Romance at Hope Ranch” went on to become the #1 Most-Watched Cable Entertainment Program on Saturday and #1 Most-Watched Cable Entertainment Program for the Week in key demographics, and her film, “Sugar & Vice: A Hannah Swensen Mystery reached #1 Most-Watched Cable Entertainment Program on Saturday and #2 Most-Watched Cable Entertainment Program for the Week in key demographics.

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The latest movie, Hannah, a baker turned amateur detective investigates the murder of a key witness in a high-profile forgery case, and the disappearance of the lead prosecutor in the case. She and her primary love interest in the film and prosecutor, Chad, work together to solve the mystery before the killer strikes again, and their case falls apart.

“Best Served Cold: A Hannah Swensen Mystery” premieres Saturday, May 16 at 8 pm on Hallmark Channel, with streaming available the next day on Hallmark+.

Sweeney promises “a bit of growth in the relationship between” the two leads, explaining she “wanted this movie to be about Chad” and his work in the courtroom, straying from the movie’s “traditional plots and storylines to really make it about this courtroom drama.”

Having written the last four movies in the Hannah Swensen movies, Sweeney has developed a stronger connection with the character, telling Fox News Digital, “I love developing characters that people relate to.”

“I love little nuggets of things that people can relate to and identify and have fun with,” she said. “So I love the characters for those kinds of dynamics, the family dinners that they have together where they’re kind of solving the mystery, but also.”

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“Best Served Cold: A Hannah Swensen Mystery” also stars Victor Webster and Barbara Niven, and was produced by Sweeney, Craig Baumgarten and Lighthouse Pictures.