The bill allows hundreds of thousands of workers across the country to immediately access funding to pay their bills and meet their financial obligations, and it builds on the bipartisan bill passed last week through the House and Senate and was signed by the President, that guarantees back pay for federal employees during the shutdown.
Cox held a press conference in front of the Capitol, accompanied by some of the bill’s 84 original cosponsors, following his introduction of the law on the House floor. “This is a common-sense piece of legislation that would provide immediate relief to the hundreds of thousands of federal employees who are suffering from this unnecessary shutdown,” said Cox.
“Right now, families in every neighborhood and zip code, are being forced to decide how to pay their mortgages, heating bills, put food on the table, or even ration medicine. We must do whatever we can to protect the workers who are paying the price for this Administration’s cruelty – and this legislation, common practice at businesses across the country, aims to do just that.”
The Immediate Financial Relief for Federal Employees Act:
- Gives federal employees a 0.0% APR loan of up to $6,000 at their request
- The loans would have no fees and accrue no interest, would not require a credit check, and the amount credited to the employee’s account would be automatically deducted once the government reopens and normal pay resumes.
- Loans would be issued by the Department of the Treasury (USDT), and a clause is included in the bill that would authorize USDT to issue these loans even if the agency is shut down.
You can read the full text of the Immediate Financial Relief for Federal Employees Act here.
The bill has 84 original co-sponsors, including neighboring Jim Costa (CA-16) who once represented Lemoore and Kings County in the Congress.