Legislators representing southern Minnesota announced this week they will donate their salaries to charities during the federal government shutdown.

U.S. Sen. Al Franken of Minneapolis, and U.S. Rep. Tim Walz of Mankato, both DFL’ers, said their pay will go toward hunger-relief organizations that serve Minnesota. U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, also DFL, of Minneapolis, said her pay will go toward medical research.

Though many federal workers cannot draw pay during the shutdown, congressional members do.

The shutdown went into effect Tuesday amid a budget impasse in Congress, leaving 800,000 federal workers idled and most nonessential government services halted for the first time in 17 years.

“I believe that while the government is shut down, donating my salary to charity is the right thing to do, and I’m going to make sure that money goes toward helping people who might be badly affected by the shutdown,” said Franken, who is donating his salary to Second Harvest Heartland, an organization that works across the Upper Midwest.

Walz, DFL-Mankato, said he will donate his pay to the Emergency Community Help Organization Food Shelf of Mankato and Rochester’s Channel One Regional Food Bank.

“The political games and governing by crisis attitude must end,” Walz said. “Hard-working families are suffering because of the uncompromising, reckless attitude of a few rigid ideologues in Washington. That isn’t right, and it isn’t fair. That is why I will donate my pay to charity.”

Klobuchar’s spokeswoman, Brigit Helgen, said the senator is giving her pay to the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health because medical research is being slashed during the shutdown.