II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1877 

To establish procedures and consequences in the event of a failure to complete 

regular appropriations. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 18, 2019 

Mr. LANKFORD (for himself, Ms. HASSAN, and Mr. JOHNSON) introduced the 

following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 

Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

A BILL 

To establish procedures and consequences in the event of 

a failure to complete regular appropriations. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Government Shutdown 

5 Accountability Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act— 

8 (1) the term ‘‘covered officer or employee’’ 

9 means— 


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1 (A) an officer or employee of the Office of 

2 Management and Budget; 

3 (B) an individual serving in a position on 

4 level I of the Executive Schedule under section 

5 5312 of title 5, United States Code; 

6 (C) a Member of Congress; or 

7 (D) an employee of the personal office of 

8 a Member of Congress, a committee of either 

9 House of Congress, or a joint committee of 

10 Congress; 

11 (2) the term ‘‘emergency legislation’’ means leg12 islation— 

13 (A) providing assistance for an area with 

14 respect to which the President has declared a 

15 major disaster under section 401 of the Robert 

16 T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency As17 sistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5170); 

18 (B) directly addressing a national emer19 gency declared by the President under title II 

20 of the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 

21 1621 et seq.); or 

22 (C) that, if not enacted, would be inimical 

23 to the national security of the United States; 

24 (3) the term ‘‘Government shutdown’’ means a 

25 lapse in appropriations for 1 or more Federal agenVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:13 Jun 19, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1877.IS S1877

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1 cies or departments as a result of a failure to enact 

2 a regular appropriations bill or continuing resolu3 tion; 

4 (4) the term ‘‘Member of Congress’’ has the 

5 meaning given that term in section 2106 of title 5, 

6 United States Code; and 

7 (5) the term ‘‘National Capital region’’ has the 

8 meaning given that term in section 8702 of title 40, 

9 United States Code. 

10 SEC. 3. DESIGNATING CERTAIN FEHBP-RELATED SERVICES 

11 AS EXCEPTED SERVICES UNDER THE ANTI12 DEFICIENCY ACT. 

13 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 8905 of title 5, United 

14 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol15 lowing: 

16 ‘‘(i) In the event of a lapse in appropriations, the Di17 rector of the Office of Personnel Management shall des18 ignate any officer or employee who performs services relat19 ing to enrolling individuals in a health benefits plan under 

20 this chapter, or changing the enrollment of an individual 

21 already so enrolled due to a qualifying life event, as an 

22 excepted employee (as defined in section 1341(c) of title 

23 31).’’. 


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1 (b) APPLICATION.—The amendment made by sub2 section (a) shall apply to any lapse in appropriations be3 ginning on or after the date of enactment of this Act. 

4 SEC. 4. EMPLOYMENT DURING A GOVERNMENT SHUT5 DOWN. 

6 (a) OUTSIDE EMPLOYMENT PERMITTED.— 

7 (1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other 

8 law, rule, or regulation, and subject to paragraph 

9 (3), during any lapse in appropriations beginning on 

10 or after December 22, 2018, any Federal employee 

11 of an agency with respect to which appropriations 

12 have lapsed and who is furloughed or excepted from 

13 furlough and working without pay may, during such 

14 lapse, seek and obtain employment outside the Fed15 eral Government. 

16 (2) PRIOR APPROVAL NOT REQUIRED.—An em17 ployee subject to this subsection may seek and ob18 tain such employment without prior approval from 

19 the employee’s employing agency. 

20 (3) LIMITATIONS.—This subsection shall not be 

21 construed to waive any restrictions or requirement 

22 with respect to conflicts of interest, including section 

23 208 of title 18, United States Code, or part 2635 of 

24 title 5, Code of Federal Regulations. 


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1 (b) BACKPAY.—Any compensation received by an em2 ployee by operation of subsection (a) shall not be taken 

3 into account for purposes of determining the amount of 

4 backpay such employee is entitled to under section 1341(c) 

5 of title 31, United States Code. 

6 SEC. 5. LIMITS ON TRAVEL EXPENDITURES. 

7 (a) LIMITS ON OFFICIAL TRAVEL.— 

8 (1) LIMITATION.—Except as provided in para9 graph (2), during a Government shutdown no 

10 amounts may be obligated or expended for official 

11 travel by a covered officer or employee. 

12 (2) EXCEPTIONS.— 

13 (A) RETURN TO DC.—If a covered officer 

14 or employee is away from the seat of Govern15 ment on the date on which a Government shut16 down begins, funds may be obligated and ex17 pended for official travel by the covered officer 

18 or employee to return to the seat of Govern19 ment. 

20 (B) TRAVEL IN NATIONAL CAPITAL RE21 GION.—During a Government shutdown, 

22 amounts may be obligated and expended for of23 ficial travel by a covered officer or employee 

24 from one location in the National Capital region 


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1 to another location in the National Capital re2 gion. 

3 (b) RESTRICTION ON USE OF CAMPAIGN FUNDS.— 

4 Section 313 of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 

5 1971 (52 U.S.C. 30114) is amended— 

6 (1) in subsection (a)(2), by striking ‘‘for ordi7 nary’’ and inserting ‘‘except as provided in sub8 section (d), for ordinary’’; and 

9 (2) by adding at the end the following: 

10 ‘‘(d) RESTRICTION ON USE OF CAMPAIGN FUNDS

11 FOR OFFICIAL TRAVEL DURING LAPSE IN APPROPRIA12 TIONS.— 

13 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para14 graph (2), during a Government shutdown (as de15 fined in section 2 of the Government Shutdown Ac16 countability Act), a contribution or donation de17 scribed in subsection (a) may not be obligated or ex18 pended for travel in connection with duties of the in19 dividual as a holder of Federal office. 

20 ‘‘(2) RETURN TO DC.—If the individual is away 

21 from the seat of Government on the date on which 

22 a Government shutdown (as so defined) begins, a 

23 contribution or donation described in subsection (a) 

24 may be obligated and expended for travel by the in25 dividual to return to the seat of Government.’’. 


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1 SEC. 6. PROCEDURES IN THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REP2 RESENTATIVES. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—During a Government shutdown, 

4 in the Senate and the House of Representatives— 

5 (1) it shall not be in order to move to proceed 

6 to any matter except for— 

7 (A) a measure making appropriations for 

8 the fiscal year during which the Government 

9 shutdown begins; 

10 (B) emergency legislation; or 

11 (C) a motion relating to determining or ob12 taining the presence of a quorum; 

13 (2) it shall not be in order to move to recess or 

14 adjourn for a period of more than 23 hours; and 

15 (3) at noon each day, the Presiding Officer 

16 shall direct the clerk to determine whether a quorum 

17 is present. 

18 (b) WAIVER.—Subsection (a) may only be waived or 

19 suspended upon an affirmative vote of two-thirds of the 

20 Members of the applicable House of Congress, duly chosen 

21 and sworn. 

Æ 


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