Mullin to give back salary during gov. shutdown

Oklahoma U.S. Rep. Markwayne Mullin says he'll give back his salary to the U.S. Treasury during the government shutdown.

The freshman Republican says his staff members have been deemed essential and will continue handling calls from constituents during the shutdown. A partial shutdown went into place Tuesday as the U.S. House and Senate were unable to reach an agreement over a temporary funding bill.

Oklahoma's all-Republican delegation in the House voted in favor of a resolution that would have funded government but delayed parts of President Barack Obama's health care law.

Mullin said in a statement that a government shutdown is a "worst case scenario" but blamed Senate Democrats and Obama for not listening to what Americans want.