116th CONGRESS 1st Session |
To provide loans to employees of the Federal Government and the government of the District of Columbia affected by a Government shutdown, and for other purposes.
January 17, 2019
Mr. Cox of California (for himself, Ms. Adams, Mr. Aguilar, Ms. Barragán, Mr. Bera, Mr. Bishop of Georgia, Ms. Bonamici, Ms. Brownley of California, Mr. Cárdenas, Mr. Case, Ms. Judy Chu of California, Mr. Cicilline, Mr. Cisneros, Ms. Clarke of New York, Mr. Correa, Mr. Costa, Mr. Crow, Mrs. Davis of California, Ms. Dean, Mr. DeSaulnier, Mrs. Dingell, Ms. Escobar, Ms. Eshoo, Ms. Garcia of Texas, Mr. García of Illinois, Mr. Gomez, Mr. Harder of California, Mrs. Hayes, Ms. Hill of California, Mr. Huffman, Ms. Jackson Lee, Mr. Khanna, Mrs. Lee of Nevada, Ms. Lee of California, Mr. Levin of Michigan, Mr. Levin of California, Mr. Ted Lieu of California, Ms. Lofgren, Mr. Lowenthal, Ms. Matsui, Mrs. McBath, Mr. McNerney, Mrs. Napolitano, Mr. Neguse, Ms. Omar, Mr. Panetta, Mr. Pappas, Mr. Peters, Mr. Peterson, Ms. Plaskett, Ms. Porter, Mr. Rose of New York, Mr. Rouda, Ms. Roybal-Allard, Mr. Carbajal, Ms. Sánchez, Mr. Schiff, Mr. Sherman, Mr. Smith of Washington, Ms. Speier, Mr. Suozzi, Mr. Swalwell of California, Mr. Takano, Mr. Thompson of California, Ms. Tlaib, Mrs. Torres of California, Mr. Trone, Mr. Vargas, Mr. Veasey, Ms. Waters, Ms. Wild, Ms. Mucarsel-Powell, Mr. Ruppersberger, Mr. Luján, Mrs. Fletcher, Ms. Fudge, Mr. Quigley, Mr. Soto, Ms. Wilson of Florida, Mr. Cohen, Mr. Lipinski, Mr. Perlmutter, Mr. Larsen of Washington, Ms. Schakowsky, and Mr. Morelle) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Reform
To provide loans to employees of the Federal Government and the government of the District of Columbia affected by a Government shutdown, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
This Act may be cited as the “Immediate Financial Relief for Federal Employees Act”.
SEC. 2. Interest-free loan for Federal and DC employees affected by Government shutdowns.
(a) In general.—The Secretary of the Treasury shall, at the request of any employee affected by a Government shutdown, issue to such employee an interest-free loan.
(b) Notice to employer.—At the time any loan is provided to an employee affected by a Government shutdown under subsection (a), the Secretary shall notify the employee’s employer that such loan has been provided and the amount of such loan.
(1) PROHIBITION ON FEES AND INTEREST.—The Secretary may not charge any fee or interest in connection with a loan provided under subsection (a).
(2) LIMITATION ON LOAN AMOUNT.—A loan provided under subsection (a) may not exceed $6,000.
(3) EMPLOYEES LIMITED TO ONE LOAN.—With respect to each period of time that an individual is an employee affected by a Government shutdown, the individual may not be provided more than one loan under subsection (a).
(1) REPAYMENT THROUGH GARNISHMENT.—With respect to an individual who was provided a loan under subsection (a), when such individual is no longer an employee affected by a Government shutdown, the employer of the individual shall garnish 100 percent of the individual’s pay with respect to the applicable pay period, and transfer such amounts to the Secretary as repayment on the loan provided to the individual under subsection (a), until the loan is repaid in full.
(2) ADDITIONAL REPAYMENT.—The Secretary shall issue regulations to provide for a repayment process for loans provided under subsection (a) with respect to which the garnishment requirement under paragraph (1) will not provide for the full repayment of the loan.
(e) Clarification.—Any loan provided under subsection (a) shall not—
(1) be treated as basic pay or annual pay of an employee for purposes of title 5, United States Code; or
(2) be counted for purposes of determining the amount of backpay owed to such employee under the Government Employee Fair Treatment Act of 2019 or any other provision of law.
(f) Authority To make loans and pay for administrative costs.—There are hereby made available to the Secretary from amounts in the general fund of the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, such sums as may be necessary to provide the loans described under subsection (a) and to pay for the administrative costs of carrying out this section.
(g) Definitions.—For purposes of this section:
(1) EMPLOYEE AFFECTED BY A GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN.—The term “employee affected by a Government shutdown” means—
(A) any employee of a Federal agency with respect to which appropriations have lapsed for a period equal to or longer than 15 consecutive days beginning on or after December 22, 2018; and
(B) any employee of an office of the government of the District of Columbia with respect to which appropriations have so lapsed.
(2) EMPLOYER.—With respect to an individual who is provided a loan under subsection (a), the term “employer” means the Federal agency or office of the government of the District of Columbia that employs such individual on the date the individual became an employee affected by a Government shutdown.
(3) SECRETARY.—The term “Secretary” means the Secretary of the Treasury.