Bill lets Congress cut government workers' pay without normal budget rules.
S. 5228 — STOP the SWAMP Act · Filed by Roger Marshall (R-KS) · Introduced Aug 4, 2026 · Referred to committee
Your members of Congress
Enter a ZIP to see where your representative and both senators stood on this bill.
Looked up on this device — your ZIP is never stored on our servers.
What it does
The bill creates two new rules for government workers. They must answer questions when Congress calls them. Workers who refuse can be banned from government jobs. They face fines up to $1,000 and jail time up to 12 months. Congress can vote to take away their pay. This uses a fast process that skips normal budget steps. Courts can review these decisions.
Who it affects
Government workers called to speak before Congress are most affected. The bill also affects anyone hired as a government worker later.
One thing to notice
Congress can cut a government worker's pay without the normal budget process. The President does not need to sign off on it.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
- Aug 4, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Aug 4, 2026 — Referred to Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Words to know
- banned — blocked or stopped from doing something, like getting a job.
- fast process — a quick way to do something that skips normal steps.
- courts — places where judges decide if laws were followed the right way.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (4,963 characters) on Aug 12, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 14,707 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
As of — page rendered 2026-09-23.
“Bill lets Congress cut government workers' pay without normal budget rules.” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/s5228/simple Report an error