Ted Cruz's shutdown sacrifice: He'll only rely on the millions in his bank account

Sen. Ted Cruz

Sen. Ted Cruz

Does Sen. Ted Cruz actually expect any credit for this? Cruz, who stands high on the list of people who caused the government shutdown in which members of Congress get paid while 800,000 federal workers—most of them making far less than the $174,000 congressional salary—go unpaid, has announced he'll donate his Senate pay to charity during the shutdown. So generous of him! And so totally insincere.

As recently as Friday, Cruz planned to keep taking his pay during a shutdown, but he seems to have realized the optics on that would be less than ideal and is now, like many other members of Congress from both parties, saying he'll donate his salary to charity while the government is shut down. Don't worry about Cruz, though. He'll be just fine! Though he's only the 55th richest member of the body of millionaires known as the United States Senate, Cruz is not exactly struggling to make ends meet. In 2011, he collected more than $1.5 million in salary and bonus as a lawyer at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius. And don't forget, he's got that sweet Goldman Sachs health care through his wife. Giving a relatively small amount of his overall wealth to charity under these circumstances no more saves him from being a total scumbag than it will make him go hungry.

Same goes for others, and especially other multimillionaires, on the list of lawmakers giving up their pay during the shutdown who voted to take pay from federal workers. Don't expect any credit for choosing to do to yourself what you did to others who didn't get a vote.