S 2732

Introduced

Bonuses for Cost-Cutters Act of 2025

To strengthen employee cost savings suggestions programs within the Federal Government.

Introduced Sep 8, 2025

Latest action (Aug 6, 2026) Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. Ordered to be reported with an amendment in the nature of a substitute favorably.

Referred to

Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee

Policy area

Government Operations and Politics

Summary

Establishes a program allowing federal employees to identify "surplus salaries and expenses funds" that agency Inspectors General and Chief Financial Officers determine are not required for operations.
Requires agency heads to transfer approved surplus funds to the Treasury for deficit reduction or federal debt reduction.
Allows agencies to retain up to 10 percent of transferred surplus funds to pay cash awards to employees who identified the surplus savings.
Requires agencies to report annually to the Treasury on total savings achieved and cash awards paid, with reports submitted to Congress and the Office of Management and Budget.
Designates the Office of Personnel Management to ensure agency compliance with the program and to certify annually that agencies comply.
Establishes that the program will expire 6 years after enactment, with the Government Accountability Office required to report on program operation every 3 years.

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)

Sen. Paul, Rand [R-KY] (R-KY)

1 cosponsor

Sen. McCormick, David [R-PA] (R-PA)

Actions (3)

Aug 6, 2026 Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. Ordered to be reported with an amendment in the nature of a substitute favorably. · senate
Sep 8, 2025 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. · senate
Sep 8, 2025 Introduced in Senate

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)

Introduced in Senate · Sep 8, 2025

Only one text version is on file, so there’s no earlier version to compare against yet.

Committee action

What happened to this bill in committee — the meetings where it was considered and every recorded vote taken on it.

Meetings where this bill was on the agenda

Business meeting to consider an original resolution regarding Contempt of Congress, S.2732, to strengthen employee cost savings suggestions programs within the Federal Government, S.2733, to require the Comptroller General of the United States to analyze certain legislation in order to prevent duplication of and overlap with existing Federal programs, offices, and initiatives, S.252, to increase access to agency guidance documents, S.164, to amend chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, to provide for en bloc consideration in resolutions of disapproval for "midnight rules", H.R.5235, to amend title 41, United States Code, to prohibit minimum educational requirements for proposed contractor personnel in certain contract solicitations, S.3175, to establish a pilot program for ZIP Code boundary changes, S.4505, to require the United States Postal Service to designate ZIP Codes for certain communities, S.1735, to require certain agencies to include a page on the website of the agency relating to permit applications, S.5163, to amend title 39, United States Code, to prevent the awarding of bonuses to the Postmaster General and Deputy Postmaster General for a fiscal year in which the United States Postal Service does not meet or exceed each on-time mail delivery target, S.2542, to direct the Director of the Federal Protective Service to establish guidance relating to emergency protocols for buildings, S.3211, to require the Office of Management and Budget to consider revising the Standard Occupational Classification system to establish a separate code for direct support professionals, S.4079, to establish in U.S. Customs and Border Protection a pilot program to adopt dogs from local animal shelters to be trained as support dogs, S.3296, to amend chapter 81 of title 5, United States Code, to cover, for purposes of workers' compensation under such chapter, services by physician assistants and nurse practitioners provided to injured Federal workers, S.388, to amend the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act with respect to the implementation of building codes, S.3226, to provide for the creation of the missing Armed Forces and civilian personnel Records Collection at the National Archives, to require the expeditious public transmission to the Archivist and public disclosure of missing Armed Forces and civilian personnel records, S.24, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 154 First Avenue East in Jerome, Idaho, as the "Representative Maxine Bell Post Office", S.58, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 107 North Hoyne Avenue in Fritch, Texas, as the "Chief Zeb Smith Post Office", S.829, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 840 Front Street in Casselton, North Dakota, as the "Commander Delbert Austin Olson Post Office", S.917, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 620 East Pecan Boulevard in McAllen, Texas, as the "Agent Raul H. Gonzalez Jr. Memorial Post Office", S.2394, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 505 East 9th Avenue in Amarillo, Texas, as the "Mayor Jerry H. Hodge Post Office Building", S.2432, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 6444 San Fernando Road in Glendale, California, as the "Paul Ignatius Post Office", S.3270 and H.R.6310, bills to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 3570 Olney Laytonsville Road in Olney, Maryland, as the "Edward L. Ramsey Olney Post Office Building", S.3294 and H.R.6332, bills to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 10660 Page Avenue in Fairfax, Virginia, as the "Congressman Gerald E. Connolly Post Office Building", S.3331, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 50 East 100 North in Moab, Utah, as the "2nd Lieutenant Mitch Williams Post Office", S.3373, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 14855 South Van Dyke Road in Plainfield, Illinois, as the "Staff Sergeant Jose Duenez Jr. Post Office Building", S.3444, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service at 1300 East Northwest Highway in Palatine, Illinois, as the "Bernie Bluestein Post Office Building", S.3630, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 46164 Westlake Drive in Sterling, Virginia, as the "Firefighter Trevor Brown Post Office Building", S.3835, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 10 East Main Street in Mahaffey, Pennsylvania, as the "Robert Allen Bishop, Sr., Post Office Building", S.4052, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 203 North Clay Street in Marshfield, Missouri, shall be known and designated as the "Edwin P. Hubble Post Office", S.4523, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 111 SouHomeland Security and Governmental Affairs CommitteeAug 6, 2026Business meeting

Full text

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

September 8, 2025

Mr. Paul introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs

A BILL

To strengthen employee cost savings suggestions programs within the Federal Government.

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 “Bonuses for Cost-Cutters Act of 2025”.

SEC. 2. COST SAVINGS ENHANCEMENTS.

(a) In General.—

(1) Definitions.—Section 4511 of title 5, United States Code, is amended—

(A) in the section heading, by striking “Definition” and inserting “Definitions”; and

(B) in subsection (a)—

(i) by striking “this subchapter, the term” and inserting the following: “this subchapter—

“(1) the term”;

(ii) by striking the period at the end and inserting “; and”; and

(iii) by adding at the end the following:

“(2) the term ‘surplus salaries and expenses funds’ means amounts made available for the salaries and expenses account, or equivalent account, of an agency—

“(A) that are identified by an employee of the agency under section 4512(a) as unnecessary;

“(B) that the Inspector General of the agency or other agency employee designated under section 4512(b) determines are not required for the purpose for which the amounts were made available;

“(C) that the Chief Financial Officer of the agency determines are not required for the purpose for which the amounts were made available; and

“(D) the rescission of which would not be detrimental to the full execution of the purposes for which the amounts were made available.”.

(2) Authority.—Section 4512 of title 5, United States Code, is amended—

(A) in subsection (a)—

(i) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by inserting “or identification of surplus salaries and expenses funds” after “mismanagement”;

(ii) in paragraph (2), by inserting “or identification” after “disclosure”; and

(iii) in the matter following paragraph

(2), by inserting “or identification” after “disclosure”; and

(B) by adding at the end the following:

“(c)(1) The Inspector General of an agency or other agency employee designated under subsection (b) shall refer to the Chief Financial Officer of the agency any potential surplus salaries and expenses funds identified by an employee that the Inspector General or other agency employee determines meet the requirements under subparagraphs (B) and (D) of section 4511(a)(2), along with any recommendations of the Inspector General or other agency employee.

“(2)(A) If the Chief Financial Officer of the agency determines that potential surplus salaries and expenses funds referred under paragraph (1) meet the requirements under section 4511(a)(2), except as provided in subsection (d), the head of the agency shall transfer the amount of the surplus salaries and expenses funds from the applicable appropriations account to the general fund of the Treasury.

“(B) Any amounts transferred under subparagraph (A) shall be deposited in the Treasury and used for deficit reduction, except that in the case of a fiscal year for which there is no Federal budget deficit, such amounts shall be used to reduce the Federal debt (in such manner as the Secretary of the Treasury considers appropriate).

“(3) The Inspector General or other agency employee designated under subsection (b) for each agency and the Chief Financial Officer for each agency shall issue standards and definitions for purposes of making determinations relating to potential surplus salaries and expenses funds identified by an employee under this subsection.

“(d)(1) The head of an agency may retain not more than 10 percent of amounts to be transferred to the general fund of the Treasury under subsection (c)(2).

“(2) Amounts retained by the head of an agency under paragraph (1) may be—

“(A) used for the purpose of paying a cash award under subsection (a) to 1 or more employees who identified the surplus salaries and expenses funds; and

“(B) to the extent amounts remain after paying cash awards under subsection (a), transferred or reprogrammed for use by the agency, in accordance with any limitation on such a transfer or reprogramming under any other provision of law.

“(e)(1) Not later than October 1 of each fiscal year, the head of each agency shall submit to the Secretary of the Treasury a report identifying the total savings achieved during the previous fiscal year through disclosures of possible fraud, waste, or mismanagement and identifications of surplus salaries and expenses funds by an employee.

“(2) Not later than September 30 of each fiscal year, the head of each agency shall submit to the Secretary of the Treasury a report that, for the previous fiscal year—

“(A) describes each disclosure of possible fraud, waste, or mismanagement or identification of potentially surplus salaries and expenses funds by an employee of the agency determined by the agency to have merit; and

“(B) provides the number and amount of cash awards paid by the agency under subsection (a).

“(3) The head of each agency shall include the information described in paragraphs (1) and (2) in each budget request of the agency submitted to the Office of Management and Budget as part of the preparation of the budget of the President submitted to Congress under section 1105(a) of title 31.

“(4) The Secretary of the Treasury shall submit to the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate, the Committee on Appropriations of the House of Representatives, and the Government Accountability Office an annual report on Federal cost saving and awards based on the reports submitted under paragraphs (1) and (2).

“(f) The Director of the Office of Personnel Management shall—

“(1) ensure that the cash award program of each agency complies with this section; and

“(2) submit to Congress an annual certification indicating whether the cash award program of each agency complies with this section.

“(g) Not later than 3 years after the date of enactment of this subsection, and every 3 years thereafter, the Comptroller General of the United States shall submit to Congress a report on the operation of the cost savings and awards program under this section, including any recommendations for legislative changes.”.

(3) Technical and conforming amendment.—The table of sections for subchapter II of chapter 45 of title 5, United States Code, is amended by striking the item relating to section 4511 and inserting the following:

“4511. Definitions and general provisions.”.

(4) Sunset.—Effective 6 years after the date of enactment of this Act—

(A) section 4511 of title 5, United States Code, is amended—

(i) in the section heading, by striking “Definitions” and inserting “Definition”; and

(ii) in subsection (a)—

(I) in paragraph (1), by striking “; and” and inserting a period;

(II) by striking “this subchapter—” and all that follows through “the term ‘agency’ means” and inserting “this subchapter, the term ‘agency’ means”; and

(III) by striking paragraph (2);

(B) section 4512 of title 5, United States Code, is amended—

(i) in subsection (a)—

(I) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by striking “or identification of surplus salaries and expenses funds”;

(II) in paragraph (2), by striking “or identification”; and

(III) in the matter following paragraph (2), by striking “or identification”; and

(ii) by striking subsections (c) through

(g); and

(C) the table of sections for subchapter II of chapter 45 of title 5, United States Code, is amended by striking the item relating to section 4511 and inserting the following:

“4511. Definition and general provisions.”.

(b) Officers Eligible for Cash Awards.—

(1) In general.—Section 4509 of title 5, United States Code, is amended to read as follows: “Sec. 4509. Prohibition of cash award to certain officers

“(a) Definition.—In this section, the term ‘agency’—

“(1) has the meaning given the term in section 551(1); and

“(2) includes an entity described in section 4501(1).

“(b) Prohibition.—An officer may not receive a cash award under this subchapter if the officer—

“(1) serves in a position at level I of the Executive Schedule;

“(2) is the head of an agency; or

“(3) is a commissioner, board member, or other voting member of an independent establishment.”.

(2) Technical and conforming amendment.—The table of sections for subchapter I of chapter 45 of title 5, United States Code, is amended by striking the item relating to section 4509 and inserting the following:

“4509. Prohibition of cash award to certain officers.”. <all>

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