President gets power to sell federal land during shutdowns—and buy Greenland.

What it does

This bill would allow the President to sell off federal real property during government shutdowns to pay federal workers' salaries without appropriations. Funds from sales go to the Treasury for deficit reduction, except any amount could be diverted to purchase Greenland. Federal property held in trust for Native American tribes is exempt from sale.

Why we flagged it

The bill's stated purpose is shutdown efficiency, but its operative mechanism is a sweeping grant of unilateral asset-sale authority to the President, coupled with an explicit carve-out permitting diversion of proceeds to a foreign land acquisition—a signature executive priority unrelated to shutdown management.

• Section 2(2) permits use of shutdown-sale proceeds for 'purchase of Greenland,' substantively unrelated to shutdown salary continuity or deficit reduction.

What the text implies

• Circumvents the Antideficiency Act (31 USC § 1342), which normally prohibits federal spending absent appropriations. The bill redefines property sales as 'emergencies involving safety of human life,' a legal fiction that erases the statutory constraint.
• Eliminates back pay for federal workers paid from shutdown-sale proceeds, converting a temporary liquidity measure into permanent wage loss—a hidden cost to federal employees.
• Exempts Indian trust lands from sale but does not restrict the President from selling adjacent or nearby federal property, potentially enabling pressure on tribal sovereignty and land consolidation.
• The Greenland carve-out creates a standing authorization for foreign land acquisition without separate appropriation, embedding an executive priority into shutdown law and bypassing normal treaty/acquisition oversight.
• Deposits post-shutdown sale proceeds in the general fund 'for deficit reduction' only if the lapse ends before sale—but if sales occur after the lapse, the Greenland carve-out applies, creating a perverse incentive to extend shutdowns to unlock foreign-acquisition funding.

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

Who it affects

The bill strips Congress of its constitutional power of the purse by allowing the President to liquidate public assets unilaterally during shutdowns, bypassing appropriations law. It also creates a mechanism to divert shutdown-sale proceeds toward a speculative foreign land purchase, converting a fiscal crisis into an opportunity for executive overreach and asset stripping.

Named in the bill

President of the United States, Federal Government, U.S. Treasury, Indian Tribes, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, People's Republic of China, Russian Federation, Islamic Republic of Iran, Greenland

Where it stands

• Nov 12, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
• Nov 12, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Foreign Affairs and House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform · Congress.gov: “Referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, and in addition to the Committees on…”

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