I 
119TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 518 
To withhold the pay of Members of Congress in certain cases, and for 
other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JANUARY 16, 2025 
Mr. LALOTA introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on House Administration 
A BILL 
To withhold the pay of Members of Congress in certain 
cases, 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 ‘‘Troops Before Politi-
cians Act’’. 
SEC. 2. WITHHOLDING OF PAY OF MEMBERS OF CONGRESS 
IN CERTAIN CASES. 
(a) HOLDING SALARIES IN ESCROW.—If on any day 
during a pay period members of the Armed Forces, includ-
ing the reserve components thereof, who perform active 
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service during such period are not receiving amounts of 
pay due to such members, including as a result of a lapse 
in appropriations for a fiscal year, the payroll adminis-
trator of a House of Congress shall— 
(1) withhold the payments otherwise required to 
be made during the period for the compensation of 
each Member of Congress who serves in that House 
of Congress; and 
(2) deposit in an escrow account all amounts 
withheld under paragraph (1). 
(b) RELEASE OF AMOUNTS HELD IN ESCROW.— 
(1) RELEASE.—The payroll administrator of a 
House of Congress shall release for payments to 
Members of that House of Congress any amounts in 
any escrow account under this subsection as soon as 
practicable after the date that the lapse in pay de-
scribed in subsection (a) terminates. 
(2) SPECIAL RULE FOR ONE HUNDRED NINE-
TEENTH CONGRESS.—In order to ensure that this 
section is carried out in a manner that shall not 
vary the compensation of Senators or Representa-
tives in violation of the twenty-seventh article of 
amendment to the Constitution of the United States, 
the payroll administrator of a House of Congress 
shall release for payments to Members of that House 
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of Congress any amounts remaining in any escrow 
account under this subsection on the last day of the 
One Hundred Nineteenth Congress. 
(c) ROLE OF SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY.—The 
Secretary of the Treasury shall provide the payroll admin-
istrators of the Houses of Congress with such assistance 
as may be necessary to enable the payroll administrators 
to carry out this Act. 
(d) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 
(1) the terms ‘‘active service’’ and ‘‘Armed 
Forces’’ have the meanings given such terms in sec-
tion 101 of title 10, United States Code; 
(2) the term ‘‘Member of Congress’’ means an 
individual serving in a position under subparagraph 
(A), (B), or (C) of section 601(a) of the Legislative 
Reorganization Act of 1946 (2 U.S.C. 4501); 
(3) the ‘‘payroll administrator’’ of a House of 
Congress means— 
(A) in the case of the House of Represent-
atives, the Chief Administrative Officer of the 
House of Representatives, or an employee of 
the Office of the Chief Administrative Officer 
who is designated by the Chief Administrative 
Officer to carry out this Act; and 
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(B) in the case of the Senate, the Sec-
retary of the Senate, or an employee of the Of-
fice of the Secretary of the Senate who is des-
ignated by the Secretary to carry out this Act; 
and 
(4) the term ‘‘reserve components’’ means the 
components named in section 10101 of title 10, 
United States Code. 
Æ 
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