Immediate Financial Relief for Federal Employees Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 657 To provide loans to employees of the Federal Government and the government of the District of Columbia affected by a Government shutdown, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JANUARY 17, 2019 Mr. COX of California (for himself, Ms. ADAMS, Mr. AGUILAR, Ms. BARRAGA´N, Mr. BERA, Mr. BISHOP of Georgia, Ms. BONAMICI, Ms. BROWNLEY of California, Mr. CA´RDENAS, Mr. CASE, Ms. JUDY CHU of California, Mr. CICILLINE, Mr. CISNEROS, Ms. CLARKE of New York, Mr. CORREA, Mr. COSTA, Mr. CROW, Mrs. DAVIS of California, Ms. DEAN, Mr. DESAULNIER, Mrs. DINGELL, Ms. ESCOBAR, Ms. ESHOO, Ms. GAR- CIA of Texas, Mr. GARCI´A of Illinois, Mr. GOMEZ, Mr. HARDER of Cali- fornia, Mrs. HAYES, Ms. HILL of California, Mr. HUFFMAN, Ms. JACK- SON LEE, Mr. KHANNA, Mrs. LEE of Nevada, Ms. LEE of California, Mr. LEVIN of Michigan, Mr. LEVIN of California, Mr. TED LIEU of Cali- fornia, Ms. LOFGREN, Mr. LOWENTHAL, Ms. MATSUI, Mrs. MCBATH, Mr. MCNERNEY, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Mr. NEGUSE, Ms. OMAR, Mr. PA- NETTA, Mr. PAPPAS, Mr. PETERS, Mr. PETERSON, Ms. PLASKETT, Ms. PORTER, Mr. ROSE of New York, Mr. ROUDA, Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD, Mr. CARBAJAL, Ms. SA´NCHEZ, Mr. SCHIFF, Mr. SHERMAN, Mr. SMITH of Washington, Ms. SPEIER, Mr. SUOZZI, Mr. SWALWELL of California, Mr. TAKANO, Mr. THOMPSON of California, Ms. TLAIB, Mrs. TORRES of Cali- fornia, Mr. TRONE, Mr. VARGAS, Mr. VEASEY, Ms. WATERS, Ms. WILD, Ms. MUCARSEL-POWELL, Mr. RUPPERSBERGER, Mr. LUJA´N, Mrs. FLETCHER, Ms. FUDGE, Mr. QUIGLEY, Mr. SOTO, Ms. WILSON of Flor- ida, Mr. COHEN, Mr. LIPINSKI, Mr. PERLMUTTER, Mr. LARSEN of Wash- ington, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, and Mr. MORELLE) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Reform A BILL To provide loans to employees of the Federal Government VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:51 Jan 25, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6652 E:\BILLS\H657.IH H657 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 657 IH and the government of the District of Columbia affected by a Government shutdown, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Immediate Financial 4 Relief for Federal Employees Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. INTEREST-FREE LOAN FOR FEDERAL AND DC EM- 6 PLOYEES AFFECTED BY GOVERNMENT SHUT- 7 DOWNS. 8 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of the Treasury 9 shall, at the request of any employee affected by a Govern- 10 ment shutdown, issue to such employee an interest-free 11 loan. 12 (b) NOTICE TO EMPLOYER.—At the time any loan 13 is provided to an employee affected by a Government shut- 14 down under subsection (a), the Secretary shall notify the 15 employee’s employer that such loan has been provided and 16 the amount of such loan. 17 (c) LOAN TERMS.— 18 (1) PROHIBITION ON FEES AND INTEREST.— 19 The Secretary may not charge any fee or interest in 20 connection with a loan provided under subsection 21 (a). 22 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:51 Jan 25, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H657.IH H657 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 657 IH (2) LIMITATION ON LOAN AMOUNT.—A loan 1 provided under subsection (a) may not exceed 2 $6,000. 3 (3) EMPLOYEES LIMITED TO ONE LOAN.—With 4 respect to each period of time that an individual is 5 an employee affected by a Government shutdown, 6 the individual may not be provided more than one 7 loan under subsection (a). 8 (d) LOAN REPAYMENT.— 9 (1) REPAYMENT THROUGH GARNISHMENT.— 10 With respect to an individual who was provided a 11 loan under subsection (a), when such individual is 12 no longer an employee affected by a Government 13 shutdown, the employer of the individual shall gar- 14 nish 100 percent of the individual’s pay with respect 15 to the applicable pay period, and transfer such 16 amounts to the Secretary as repayment on the loan 17 provided to the individual under subsection (a), until 18 the loan is repaid in full. 19 (2) ADDITIONAL REPAYMENT.—The Secretary 20 shall issue regulations to provide for a repayment 21 process for loans provided under subsection (a) with 22 respect to which the garnishment requirement under 23 paragraph (1) will not provide for the full repayment 24 of the loan. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:51 Jan 25, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H657.IH H657 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 657 IH (e) CLARIFICATION.—Any loan provided under sub- 1 section (a) shall not— 2 (1) be treated as basic pay or annual pay of an 3 employee for purposes of title 5, United States Code; 4 or 5 (2) be counted for purposes of determining the 6 amount of backpay owed to such employee under the 7 Government Employee Fair Treatment Act of 2019 8 or any other provision of law. 9 (f) AUTHORITY TO MAKE LOANS AND PAY FOR AD- 10 MINISTRATIVE COSTS.—There are hereby made available 11 to the Secretary from amounts in the general fund of the 12 Treasury not otherwise appropriated, such sums as may 13 be necessary to provide the loans described under sub- 14 section (a) and to pay for the administrative costs of car- 15 rying out this section. 16 (g) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section: 17 (1) EMPLOYEE AFFECTED BY A GOVERNMENT 18 SHUTDOWN.—The term ‘‘employee affected by a 19 Government shutdown’’ means— 20 (A) any employee of a Federal agency with 21 respect to which appropriations have lapsed for 22 a period equal to or longer than 15 consecutive 23 days beginning on or after December 22, 2018; 24 and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:51 Jan 25, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H657.IH H657 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 657 IH (B) any employee of an office of the gov- 1 ernment of the District of Columbia with re- 2 spect to which appropriations have so lapsed. 3 (2) EMPLOYER.—With respect to an individual 4 who is provided a loan under subsection (a), the 5 term ‘‘employer’’ means the Federal agency or office 6 of the government of the District of Columbia that 7 employs such individual on the date the individual 8 became an employee affected by a Government shut- 9 down. 10 (3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 11 the Secretary of the Treasury. 12 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:51 Jan 25, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H657.IH H657 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS