Congress will reimburse workers for shutdown financial damage—late fees, interest, penalties.

What it does

This bill requires the federal government to reimburse federal employees, D.C. public employees, federal contractors, and states for costs they incur during government shutdowns—including late fees, loan interest, and credit card penalties caused by lost wages. It applies retroactively to the October 2025 shutdown and prospectively to any future shutdown lasting 14+ days, with a one-year deadline for submitting claims and a new Treasury fund to hold appropriations for future reimbursements.

Why we flagged it

The bill's core mechanism is a reimbursement obligation for shutdown-related financial harm to workers and states. It is a protective measure, not a tax cut, subsidy, or deregulation—it restores workers to the position they would have occupied absent the shutdown.

What the text implies

• Retroactive application to October 2025 shutdown creates immediate fiscal obligation; Congress will need to appropriate funds to pay claims, potentially competing with other budget priorities.
• One-year claim deadline may disadvantage workers unaware of the program or unable to gather documentation quickly; Treasury discretion over documentation requirements could create barriers to reimbursement.
• State reimbursement (90-day window) may incentivize states to spend more aggressively during shutdowns if they expect federal reimbursement, though the 14-day duration threshold limits exposure.
• Fund structure (paragraph 5) is prospective only—it does not pre-fund the October 2025 shutdown reimbursements, meaning those costs must be appropriated separately and immediately.

Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.

Who it affects

Ordinary federal workers, contractors, and state residents are protected from bearing the financial costs of shutdowns they did not cause—late fees, interest charges, and penalties that compound wage loss. States are also made whole for emergency spending, reducing pressure on state budgets and taxpayers.

Who stands to gain

• federal employees (wage-loss recovery)
• federal contractors and their employees (wage-loss recovery)
• D.C. public employees (wage-loss recovery)
• state governments (emergency assistance reimbursement)

Named in the bill

U.S. Department of the Treasury, Federal Government, District of Columbia, States (50 states, territories, Indian Tribes), Federal contractors, 31 U.S.C. § 1341

Where it stands

9 cosponsors: 9 Democrats.

• Sep 30, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
• Sep 30, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform”

Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.

Money around this bill

2 lobbying clients named this bill on 3 disclosure filings across 3 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $690,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 32 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.

More lobbying clients named this bill than 41% of bills with at least one filing.

Steven Horsford, the sponsor, reported $1,801,734 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.

• American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees — $690,000 on 1 filing
• Federal Managers Association — $0 on 2 filings

Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 7, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.