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Pay Federal Workers and Servicemembers Act
To amend chapter 85 of title 5, United States Code, to clarify that Federal civilian and military personnel excepted from a furlough during a Government shutdown are eligible for unemployment compensation, and for other purposes.
Summary
The Pay Federal Workers and Servicemembers Act amends federal law to make federal civilian employees and military personnel who continue working but are not paid during a government shutdown eligible to receive unemployment compensation benefits. These "excepted" workers—who remain on duty despite the shutdown—would be treated as if they were totally separated from federal service for unemployment purposes, with no waiting period to receive benefits. The provision applies to government shutdowns beginning on or after March 14, 2025.
AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.
Sponsor (1)
27 cosponsors
- Del. Norton, Eleanor Holmes [D-DC-At Large] (D-DC)
- Rep. Bell, Wesley [D-MO-1] (D-MO)
- Rep. Boyle, Brendan F. [D-PA-2] (D-PA)
- Rep. Correa, J. Luis [D-CA-46] (D-CA)
- Rep. DelBene, Suzan K. [D-WA-1] (D-WA)
- Rep. Deluzio, Christopher R. [D-PA-17] (D-PA)
- Rep. Fields, Cleo [D-LA-6] (D-LA)
- Rep. Figures, Shomari [D-AL-2] (D-AL)
- Rep. Frankel, Lois [D-FL-22] (D-FL)
- Rep. Ivey, Glenn [D-MD-4] (D-MD)
- Rep. Keating, William R. [D-MA-9] (D-MA)
- Rep. Landsman, Greg [D-OH-1] (D-OH)
- Rep. McBride, Sarah [D-DE-At Large] (D-DE)
- Rep. McIver, LaMonica [D-NJ-10] (D-NJ)
- Rep. Moulton, Seth [D-MA-6] (D-MA)
- Rep. Pocan, Mark [D-WI-2] (D-WI)
- Rep. Randall, Emily [D-WA-6] (D-WA)
- Rep. Ruiz, Raul [D-CA-25] (D-CA)
- Rep. Salinas, Andrea [D-OR-6] (D-OR)
- Rep. Sewell, Terri A. [D-AL-7] (D-AL)
- Rep. Soto, Darren [D-FL-9] (D-FL)
- Rep. Thanedar, Shri [D-MI-13] (D-MI)
- Rep. Tlaib, Rashida [D-MI-12] (D-MI)
- Rep. Tokuda, Jill N. [D-HI-2] (D-HI)
- Rep. Vargas, Juan [D-CA-52] (D-CA)
- Rep. Velázquez, Nydia M. [D-NY-7] (D-NY)
- Rep. Whitesides, George [D-CA-27] (D-CA)
Actions (2)
- Mar 10, 2025 Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means. · house
- Mar 10, 2025 Introduced in House
Similar bills (6)
Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.
Text versions (1)
Bills are re-published as they move (Introduced → Reported → Engrossed → Enrolled …). Each stage below is a separate text; pick two to see what changed. Data from Congress.gov.
Full text
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
March 10, 2025
Mrs. Dingell (for herself, Ms. DelBene, Ms. Tlaib, Mrs. McIver, Ms. Velazquez, and Ms. Sewell) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means
A BILL
To amend chapter 85 of title 5, United States Code, to clarify that Federal civilian and military personnel excepted from a furlough during a Government shutdown are eligible for unemployment compensation, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the “Pay Federal Workers and Servicemembers Act”.
SEC. 2. ELIGIBILITY FOR UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION FOR FEDERAL CIVILIAN AND MILITARY PERSONNEL EXCEPTED FROM FURLOUGH DURING GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN.
(a) Federal Civilian Employees.—
(1) In general.—Subchapter I of chapter 85 of title 5, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following: “Sec. 8510. Eligibility for unemployment compensation for Federal personnel excepted from furlough during Government shutdown
“(a) In General.—With respect to any lapse in appropriations beginning on or after March 14, 2025, each covered employee shall be, solely for the purpose of determining eligibility for unemployment compensation under this subchapter or subchapter II (as the case may be), deemed for the duration of the lapse in appropriations to be—
“(1) totally separated from Federal service; and
“(2) eligible for unemployment compensation benefits under the applicable subchapter with no waiting period for such eligibility to accrue.
“(b) Covered Employee Defined.—In this section, the term ‘covered employee’ means any of the following Federal personnel who are excepted from furlough and are not being paid due to a lapse in appropriations:
“(1) Any member of the Armed Forces or the Commissioned Corps of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
“(2) Any Federal civilian employee who is an excepted employee or an employee performing emergency work, as such terms are defined by the Office of Personnel Management.”.
(2) Clerical amendment.—The table of sections for such subchapter is amended by adding at the end the following:
“8510. Eligibility for unemployment compensation for Federal personnel excepted from furlough during Government shutdown.”.
(a) Application.—The amendment made by subsection (a) shall apply to weeks of unemployment beginning on or after March 14, 2025. <all>
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