Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, is once again attempting to pass a bill to lessen the financial burden on federal employees and contractors who were not paid during the budget stalemate as the government shutdown drags on.
In a statement released on October 8, Schatz announced that he was reintroducing the Federal Employee Civil Relief Act, a piece of legislation that the senator had attempted to pass three times previously and which would allow shutdown-affected employees to postpone some of the financial consequences of not getting paid.
“Right now, hundreds of thousands of federal workers, federal contractor employees, and their families don’t know whether they’ll be able to pay rent and make ends meet. Our bill will protect these workers and make sure they aren’t harmed during this shutdown,” said Schatz in a statement.
What This Means for the U.S.
By applying for a temporary stay in court during a shutdown, federal employees and contractors would be able to delay eviction, foreclosure, tax liens, student loan debt, negative credit reporting, and other financial obligations, as well as debts such as “rent, mortgage, tax, fine, penalty, insurance premium, student loan repayment or other civil obligation or liability.”
The origins of the bill can be traced back to the companion bills that Schatz and former Representative Derek Kilmer, D-Wash., wrote following the 35-day partial government shutdown in 2019.
The last iteration added debt default safeguards for federal employees and contractors, and the two brought it back in 2021 and 2023. Out of committee, the legislation was never moved forward. Kilmer refused to run for reelection and resigned from his House position in January.
With labor support from the National Treasury Employees Union, International Federal of Professional and Technical Engineers, National Federation of Federal Employees-IAM, American Federation of Government Employees, National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association, Laborers’ International Union of North America, and the Transport Workers Union, Schatz is joined by 18 Senate Democrats as co-sponsors of this year’s bill.
Trump Actions, Trends Going Forward
In a social media tweet on October 11, the president stated that he had instructed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth “to use all available funds to get our Troops PAID on October 15th,” as the possibility that military troops would not be paid on Wednesday due to the closure increased.
According to a representative for the Office of Management and Budget, the payroll cash would be derived from unobligated Pentagon research and development funds, as reported by several sites.
The action is taken in spite of the fact that several legislation to authorize military pay as well as pay for federal civilian employees during the shutdown have stagnated in Congress.
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