I 
116TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 657 
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. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JANUARY 17, 2019 
Mr. COX
of California (for himself, Ms. ADAMS, Mr. AGUILAR, Ms. 
BARRAGA´N, Mr. BERA, Mr. BISHOP of Georgia, Ms. BONAMICI, Ms. 
BROWNLEY of California, Mr. CA´RDENAS, 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. GAR-
CIA of Texas, Mr. GARCI´A of Illinois, Mr. GOMEZ, Mr. HARDER of Cali-
fornia, Mrs. HAYES, Ms. HILL of California, Mr. HUFFMAN, Ms. JACK-
SON LEE, Mr. KHANNA, Mrs. LEE of Nevada, Ms. LEE of California, Mr. 
LEVIN of Michigan, Mr. LEVIN of California, Mr. TED LIEU of Cali-
fornia, Ms. LOFGREN, Mr. LOWENTHAL, Ms. MATSUI, Mrs. MCBATH, 
Mr. MCNERNEY, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Mr. NEGUSE, Ms. OMAR, Mr. PA-
NETTA, Mr. PAPPAS, Mr. PETERS, Mr. PETERSON, Ms. PLASKETT, Ms. 
PORTER, Mr. ROSE of New York, Mr. ROUDA, Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD, Mr. 
CARBAJAL, Ms. SA´NCHEZ, 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 Cali-
fornia, Mr. TRONE, Mr. VARGAS, Mr. VEASEY, Ms. WATERS, Ms. WILD, 
Ms. MUCARSEL-POWELL, Mr. RUPPERSBERGER, Mr. LUJA´N, Mrs. 
FLETCHER, Ms. FUDGE, Mr. QUIGLEY, Mr. SOTO, Ms. WILSON of Flor-
ida, Mr. COHEN, Mr. LIPINSKI, Mr. PERLMUTTER, Mr. LARSEN of Wash-
ington, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, and Mr. MORELLE) introduced the following 
bill; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Reform 
A BILL 
To provide loans to employees of the Federal Government 
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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 Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Immediate Financial 
Relief for Federal Employees Act’’. 
SEC. 2. INTEREST-FREE LOAN FOR FEDERAL AND DC EM-
PLOYEES AFFECTED BY GOVERNMENT SHUT-
DOWNS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of the Treasury 
shall, at the request of any employee affected by a Govern-
ment 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 shut-
down under subsection (a), the Secretary shall notify the 
employee’s employer that such loan has been provided and 
the amount of such loan. 
(c) LOAN TERMS.— 
(1) PROHIBITION ON FEES AND INTEREST.— 
The Secretary may not charge any fee or interest in 
connection with a loan provided under subsection 
(a). 
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(e) CLARIFICATION.—Any loan provided under sub-
section (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 AD-
MINISTRATIVE 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 sub-
section (a) and to pay for the administrative costs of car-
rying 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 
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(B) any employee of an office of the gov-
ernment of the District of Columbia with re-
spect 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 shut-
down. 
(3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 
the Secretary of the Treasury. 
Æ 
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