Sponsors (3)
The bill protects furloughed and unpaid federal employees, service members, and government cardholders from bank fees during funding lapses and clarifies legal definitions for financial actors, but shifts costs and administrative burdens onto banks, agencies, and potentially other customers while leaving some workers without relief.
Federal employees, uniformed service members, and holders of government-issued purchase cards will be protected from NSF and late-payment fees for transactions or credit-card payments due during a federal funding lapse.
Banks, card issuers, and agencies will have clearer legal definitions under the EFTA and Consumer Credit Protection Act amendments, improving enforcement and compliance certainty for financial institutions and government programs.
Banks and card issuers may absorb the cost of waived fees and could pass those costs on to customers through higher fees or reduced services.
Workers who are not furloughed or who did not work without pay during a lapse will not receive the same fee protections, creating uneven relief across affected employees.
Treating Federal purchase cards more like consumer credit could create administrative complexity for agencies reconciling charges and collections after a lapse.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Bars banks and card issuers from charging overdraft/NSF, rejected-debit, late-payment, or similar fees for federal employees and uniformed service members for payments or transactions during a lapse in appropriations.
Introduced November 7, 2025 by Sara Jacobs · Last progress November 7, 2025
Prohibits banks, credit card issuers, and similar financial institutions from charging overdraft/insufficient-funds, rejected-debit, late-payment, or similar fees to federal employees and uniformed service members for transactions or payments that fall during a lapse in appropriations. The protection applies for any period when one or more federal agencies lack appropriations and explicitly covers Federal Government–issued purchase cards.