Sponsors (7)
The bill prioritizes protecting federal workers' pay and clarifying payroll/escrow rules to preserve government operations and tax compliance during funding gaps, but it shifts costs to taxpayers, adds administrative complexity, risks operational and equity problems, and could create political or legal incentives around shutdown timing.
Most federal civil service employees and uniformed service members will continue to receive pay during funding gaps, preventing immediate financial hardship and helping individuals meet bills and retain workforce stability.
The bill helps preserve continuity of essential government functions by keeping most staff on the payroll and by providing a uniform definition of 'government shutdown' for applying these rules.
Limits pay and expense funding for senior White House political appointees (noncareer EOP and Schedule C), reducing payroll costs to taxpayers and reinforcing fiscal restraint during lapses.
Automatic Treasury-funded pay during appropriations lapses could impose substantial unplanned costs on taxpayers by continuing payroll outlays despite a funding gap.
Barring pay for senior Executive Office positions and Schedule C staff while continuing pay for career employees risks disrupting operations and slowing decisionmaking in the White House, creating potential national security and service-delivery risks.
Escrowing pay and applying withholding/remittance procedures will impose additional administrative burdens and costs on Treasury, OPM, and House/Senate payroll offices to establish and manage escrow accounts and compliance processes.
Based on analysis of 6 sections of legislative text.
Pays most civil and uniformed federal employees during shutdowns, escrows pay for Members of Congress and the President/VP, and bars pay for certain White House political appointees.
Introduced October 21, 2025 by John B. Larson · Last progress October 21, 2025
Requires the Treasury to pay the salaries and expenses of most civil service and uniformed service employees during any lapse in discretionary appropriations, while excluding department heads and their deputies. It also directs payroll offices and OPM to withhold and hold in escrow the pay of Members of Congress, the President, and the Vice President for days lost to a shutdown and sets rules for when those escrowed amounts are released. The bill further bars payment of salary and expenses to certain senior White House appointees during a shutdown and defines "Government shutdown" as any lapse in appropriations caused by failure to enact regular appropriations or a continuing resolution.