Congress guarantees pay for federal workers during shutdowns

What it does

This bill ensures that federal employees designated as 'excepted' (those required to work during government shutdowns) receive their regular pay, benefits, and allowances during lapses in appropriations, starting in fiscal year 2026. The bill creates a standing appropriation to cover these costs automatically, and charges the payments back to regular appropriations once Congress passes a budget.

Why we flagged it

The bill's core function is to guarantee pay continuity for federal workers during appropriations lapses, ensuring essential government operations continue uninterrupted and workers avoid financial hardship during political budget disputes.

What the text implies

• Contractors supporting excepted employees (e.g., private security firms, IT support vendors) are explicitly included as beneficiaries, creating a secondary private-sector benefit stream during shutdowns.
• The retroactive effective date (September 30, 2025) may apply this mechanism to any shutdown that occurred after that date in fiscal 2025, potentially creating retroactive payment obligations.
• By making appropriations automatic and 'out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated,' the bill bypasses normal congressional appropriations votes for this category of spending during shutdowns.
• The bill does not cap total spending or require Congress to account for shutdown-period payroll separately — it creates an open-ended entitlement to pay for all excepted work performed.

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

Who it affects

Federal employees performing essential work during shutdowns (border security, air traffic control, food safety inspection, etc.) gain financial security and uninterrupted income. Citizens benefit indirectly through continuity of critical government services and reduced economic disruption. The bill does not create new spending — it merely ensures that work already performed gets paid.

Who stands to gain

• Federal employees (excepted category)
• Active-duty military personnel
• Private contractors providing support to excepted employees

Named in the bill

Office of Personnel Management (OPM), Executive branch agencies, Legislative branch, Judicial branch, Armed Forces, U.S. Treasury

Where it stands

17 cosponsors: 17 Republicans.

• Oct 21, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
• Oct 21, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Appropriations · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Appropriations”

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 4 disclosure filings across 3 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $680,000 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.

Dusty Johnson, the sponsor, reported $325,500 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.

• American Speech-language-hearing Association — $680,000 on 2 filings
• Federal Managers Association — $0 on 2 filings

Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 15, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.