Legislation has been introduced to pay all federal employees in the event of a partial government shutdown during the current fiscal year.
The True Shutdown Fairness Act was introduced in the House (H.R. 7322) by Congressman James Walkinshaw (D-VA). It is companion legislation to a bill introduced last fall in the Senate (S. 3165) by Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD).
The bill would pay all federal employees, military servicemembers, and federal contractors during any shutdowns in fiscal year 2026, which runs through the end of September 2026.
It also ensures that a government shutdown cannot be used to carry out a reduction in force (RIF). This was something done by the Trump administration during the last shutdown which garnered strenuous objections from some lawmakers.
But note that the bill would only cover shutdowns for the current fiscal year if it were to become law as currently written. Other bills have been introduced in Congress to permanently eliminate shutdowns, often by instituting an automatic continuing resolution to keep agencies funded until a broader funding bill is passed.
The Eliminate Shutdowns Act is one such bill that was introduced last fall. That bill proposed creating an automatic two-week continuing resolution to continue funding at the previous year’s levels to prevent triggering a shutdown.
Another example from 2023 is the End Shutdowns Act. This bill also proposed an automatic continuing resolution but also would have prevented the Senate from moving forward with any other legislation, outside of an emergency scenario, until Congress reached an agreement on a long-term spending deal.
Another bill introduced around the same time was the Modernizing the Federal Calendar Act. It proposed changing the government’s fiscal year to run concurrent with the calendar year as a way to eliminate the threat of a government shutdown at the start of October.
What normally happens during a long government shutdown such as the last one is that pay for federal employees is disrupted, and many federal employees who are considered “essential” have to continue working while others are furloughed. Although they eventually will get paid, paychecks get delayed since they cannot be issued until the lapse in appropriations is resolved and funding resumes.
Office of Personnel Management (OPM) guidance states, “Retroactive pay will be provided on the earliest date possible after the lapse ends, regardless of scheduled pay dates.”
For paycheck deductions such as the TSP, employee and agency matching contributions stop temporarily as well until pay resumes after the shutdown ends.
The True Shutdown Fairness Act proposes a temporary fix for all of those disruptions for the current fiscal year by ensuring that paychecks would continue.
Government shutdowns have become a political weapon used by both parties since they were conceived during the Carter administration. Various past bills with proposed permanent solutions have failed to advance, indicating there is little political will in Washington to find a permanent solution. Consequently, they are a reality federal employees will have to be prepared to deal with when they take place.
