Help FEDS Act
Sponsored By: Representative Elfreth
Introduced
Summary
State unemployment benefits for excepted federal employees during shutdowns. This bill would require States to allow excepted Federal employees to apply for and receive unemployment compensation for weeks they perform Office of Personnel Management–defined emergency work during a lapse in appropriations in fiscal years 2026 and 2027.
Show full summary
- Federal employees: Excepted employees who work emergency duties while not being paid could get state unemployment for those weeks. If they later receive pay under 31 U.S.C. 1341(c)(2) for the same period they must repay the benefits and that repayment is treated as an overpayment.
- States: States must administer these claims, recover unrepaid amounts the same way they handle other unemployment overpayments, and deposit recovered funds into the State unemployment fund.
- Federal funding: The Treasury would reimburse States 100 percent of the unemployment paid plus related administrative expenses, using the Unemployment Trust Fund and based on certification from the Secretary of Labor.
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Bill Overview
Analyzed Economic Effects
1 provisions identified: 0 benefits, 0 costs, 1 mixed.
Unemployment help for unpaid federal workers
If enacted, this would let certain unpaid federal employees claim state unemployment for weeks they work emergency duties during a shutdown in fiscal years 2026 or 2027. You would need to be an excepted employee doing emergency work under OPM rules and not getting paid during the lapse. If you later get back pay for those weeks under 31 U.S.C. 1341(c)(2), you would have to repay the unemployment money to your state; unpaid amounts would be treated as overpayments. States would be reimbursed 100% for these benefits and related admin costs after Labor certifies the amounts. Treasury would pay states from the Unemployment Trust Fund.
Sponsors & CoSponsors
Sponsor
Elfreth
MD • D
Cosponsors
Ansari
AZ • D
Sponsored 9/26/2025
Bell
MO • D
Sponsored 9/26/2025
Beyer
VA • D
Sponsored 9/26/2025
Cleaver
MO • D
Sponsored 9/26/2025
Dexter
OR • D
Sponsored 9/26/2025
Hoyer
MD • D
Sponsored 9/26/2025
Ivey
MD • D
Sponsored 9/26/2025
Del. Norton, Eleanor Holmes [D-DC-At Large]
DC • D
Sponsored 9/26/2025
Olszewski
MD • D
Sponsored 9/26/2025
Randall
WA • D
Sponsored 9/26/2025
Subramanyam
VA • D
Sponsored 9/26/2025
Walkinshaw
VA • D
Sponsored 9/26/2025
Tlaib
MI • D
Sponsored 9/26/2025
Whitesides
CA • D
Sponsored 9/26/2025
Davis (IL)
IL • D
Sponsored 9/30/2025
Espaillat
NY • D
Sponsored 9/30/2025
Lofgren
CA • D
Sponsored 9/30/2025
McClain Delaney
MD • D
Sponsored 9/30/2025
Raskin
MD • D
Sponsored 9/30/2025
Thanedar
MI • D
Sponsored 9/30/2025
Tokuda
HI • D
Sponsored 9/30/2025
Vindman
VA • D
Sponsored 9/30/2025
Horsford
NV • D
Sponsored 9/30/2025
Schneider
IL • D
Sponsored 9/30/2025
Huffman
CA • D
Sponsored 10/3/2025
McBride
DE • D
Sponsored 10/3/2025
Gottheimer
NJ • D
Sponsored 10/3/2025
Swalwell
CA • D
Sponsored 10/3/2025
Landsman
OH • D
Sponsored 10/3/2025
Carter (LA)
LA • D
Sponsored 10/3/2025
Evans (PA)
PA • D
Sponsored 10/8/2025
Soto
FL • D
Sponsored 10/8/2025
Pocan
WI • D
Sponsored 10/8/2025
Case
HI • D
Sponsored 10/24/2025
Jayapal
WA • D
Sponsored 10/24/2025
Chu
CA • D
Sponsored 10/24/2025
Keating
MA • D
Sponsored 12/3/2025
Roll Call Votes
No roll call votes available for this bill.
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