Help FEDS Act

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2948 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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119th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 2948

 To amend section 303 of the Social Security Act to require States to 
provide unemployment compensation benefits to Federal employees during 
             a government shutdown, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           September 30, 2025

Ms. Alsobrooks (for herself, Mr. Van Hollen, Mr. Kaine, Mr. Warner, Ms. 
  Duckworth, Mr. Schatz, and Mr. Blumenthal) introduced the following 
  bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend section 303 of the Social Security Act to require States to 
provide unemployment compensation benefits to Federal employees during 
             a government shutdown, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Help Federal Employees During 
Shutdowns Act'' or the ``Help FEDS Act''.

SEC. 2. REGULAR COMPENSATION REQUIRED FOR FEDERAL EMPLOYEES DURING A 
              SHUTDOWN.

    Section 303 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 503) is amended 
by adding at the end the following:
    ``(n)(1) For purposes of subsection (a), the unemployment 
compensation law of a State must--
            ``(A) allow for excepted Federal employees to apply for and 
        receive unemployment compensation for any week in which such 
        employee is performing emergency work (as such term is defined 
        by the Office of Personnel Management) during a lapse in 
        appropriations during fiscal year 2026 or 2027;
            ``(B) in the case that an excepted Federal employee 
        receives pay under section 1341(c)(2) of title 31, United 
        States Code, for any period in which such employee received 
        compensation pursuant to subparagraph (A), require such an 
        excepted Federal employee to repay such compensation to the 
        State;
            ``(C) treat as an overpayment any such compensation not 
        repaid to the State and allow for the recovery of such 
        compensation in the same manner the State recovers any 
        overpayment paid pursuant to the unemployment compensation law 
        of the State; and
            ``(D) deposit all money repaid or recovered pursuant to 
        subparagraphs (B) and (C) in the unemployment fund of such 
        State.
    ``(2)(A) The Secretary of Treasury shall pay to each State, for the 
purpose of providing unemployment compensation to excepted Federal 
employees pursuant to paragraph (1)(A), the amount described in 
subparagraph (B). The Secretary of Labor shall, from time to time, 
certify to the Secretary of the Treasury the amount to be paid under 
this paragraph.
    ``(B) There shall be paid to each State an amount equal to 100 
percent of--
            ``(i) the total amount of unemployment compensation 
        provided to excepted Federal employees by the State pursuant to 
        paragraph (1)(A); and
            ``(ii) any additional administrative expenses incurred by 
        the State in relation to such compensation.
    ``(C) Funds in the Unemployment Trust Fund (as established by 
section 904(a)) shall be used to make payments to States pursuant to 
subparagraph (A).
    ``(3) In this section, the term `excepted Federal employee' means, 
with respect to a lapse in appropriations, a Federal employee who--
            ``(A) is an excepted employee, as defined in section 
        1341(c)(1) of title 31, United States Code; and
            ``(B) is not being paid due to the lapse in 
        appropriations.''.
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