Title: Immediate Financial Relief for Federal Employees Act
Policy area: Government Operations and Politics

Summary:
Immediate Financial Relief for Federal Employees Act
This bill directs the Department of the Treasury to provide interest-free loans to federal and District of Columbia government employees affected by a government shutdown and to notify the individual's employer.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 657 Introduced in House (IH)]

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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. 
 Barragan, Mr. Bera, Mr. Bishop of Georgia, Ms. Bonamici, Ms. Brownley 
of California, Mr. Cardenas, 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. Garcia 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. Sanchez, 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. Lujan, 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

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    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,

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 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.
    (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).
            (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).
    (d) Loan Repayment.--
            (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.
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