Help FEDS Act

This bill would require state unemployment programs to let excepted federal employees apply for and receive unemployment benefits for weeks they perform emergency work without pay during a government shutdown in fiscal year 2026 or 2027. If those employees later receive back pay for the same period, they would have to repay the unemployment benefits to the state. Unpaid amounts would be treated as overpayments and recovered the same way the state recovers other overpayments, and repaid money would go into the state's unemployment fund. The federal government would pay states 100 percent of the benefits and related administrative costs, using money from the Unemployment Trust Fund.

Full text and official record on Congress.gov

Sponsors

• Sarah Elfreth Democrat sponsor
• 36 cosponsors