Federal workers get guaranteed pay during shutdowns—no more unpaid labor

What it does

This bill ensures that federal employees deemed 'excepted' (those required to work during government shutdowns) and supporting contractors receive their regular pay, benefits, and allowances during lapses in appropriations. The bill automatically funds these payments from the Treasury without requiring a separate appropriations vote, and applies retroactively to September 30, 2025, and to all future fiscal years.

Why we flagged it

The bill's core mechanism is a standing appropriation to guarantee compensation for federal workers during government shutdowns. It is a worker-protection measure, not a tax, subsidy, or deregulation.

What the text implies

• Contractors supporting excepted employees gain the same pay guarantee as direct federal employees, potentially expanding the scope of shutdown-protected workers beyond traditional civil service.
• The retroactive effective date (September 30, 2025) may create a retroactive entitlement to unpaid wages for any shutdown that occurred between that date and enactment, with fiscal consequences not quantified in the bill.
• The automatic appropriation mechanism bypasses the normal congressional appropriations process for these payments, creating a permanent standing fund that does not require annual reauthorization.
• The bill applies to all three branches (executive, legislative, judicial), meaning Congress and courts would also fund their own excepted employees automatically during shutdowns, potentially reducing political pressure to resolve appropriations deadlocks.

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

Who it affects

Federal employees and supporting contractors gain guaranteed pay during shutdowns, eliminating the hardship of working without compensation. This protects a broad class of public-sector workers and ensures critical government functions continue without imposing unpaid labor on those who perform them.

Who stands to gain

• federal employees (excepted category)
• contractors supporting federal operations
• active-duty military members

Named in the bill

Office of Personnel Management, Federal agencies (all branches), U.S. Treasury, Excepted employees, Armed Forces

Where it stands

13 cosponsors: 13 Republicans.

• Oct 15, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”

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

Money around this bill

13 lobbying clients named this bill on 19 disclosure filings across 3 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $4,772,426 in lobbying spend. A filing names 24 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 94% of bills with at least one filing.

Ron Johnson, the sponsor, reported $49,500 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.

• American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees — $1,320,000 on 2 filings
• United Steel Paper & Forestry Rubber Manufacturing Energy — $1,080,000 on 2 filings
• American Fed of Government Employees AFL-CIO — $840,426 on 2 filings
• AFL-CIO — $760,000 on 1 filing
• Air Line Pilots Association — $266,000 on 1 filing

Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 22, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.