Sponsors (6)
The bill helps protect federal and D.C. employees' credit during short appropriations shutdowns by removing certain adverse entries and requiring OMB notification, while creating modest administrative costs and some increased credit risk for lenders and limited coverage due to a narrow time window.
Federal and D.C. employees: adverse credit entries arising during a lapse in appropriations can be removed free of charge, helping avoid credit-score damage and higher borrowing costs immediately after a shutdown.
Federal employees and financial institutions: requiring OMB to notify consumer reporting agencies when a lapse begins and ends creates a clear administrative trigger to implement the deletions promptly.
Lenders and taxpayers: omitting legitimate adverse credit information for the covered period may increase credit risk for lenders and could raise costs borne by borrowers or taxpayers if losses occur.
Consumer reporting agencies, OMB, and federal employees: implementing deletion requests and the notification process imposes administrative costs and operational burdens on agencies and firms.
Some federal and D.C. employees: the protection applies only after a lapse of more than 24 hours and ends 30 days after it concludes, so debts reported outside that window remain exposed.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Prevents certain consumer reporting agencies from listing or disclosing adverse debt info for Federal/D.C. employees when that debt arises during a qualifying lapse in appropriations, and requires deletion on request.
Official title: Protect the credit of Federal workers during a government shutdown.
Introduced April 30, 2026 by Mark Edward Kelly · Last progress April 30, 2026
Prohibits certain consumer reporting agencies from including adverse credit or debt information that arises because a Federal or D.C. employee was affected by a lapse in appropriations (a shutdown) during a defined "covered period." Agencies must delete such information free of charge upon request during the covered period and must not disclose it; OMB must notify designated consumer reporting agencies when a lapse begins and ends. The rule applies to covered periods beginning on or after February 1, 2026.