KRON: Bill aims to protect unpaid federal workers from losing their homes
By Amy Larson
Several Democratic senators are pushing for a bill that would protect unpaid federal workers and their families from foreclosures, evictions, and loan defaults during the government shutdown.
U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) joined U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) and 16 other senators in introducing the Federal Employee Civil Relief Act, Padilla’s office announced Thursday.
Before President Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) began mass firings of the federal workforce, California had more than 150,000 federal civilian workers in 2024, according to Padilla’s office. Workers who survived the layoffs are now living without paychecks during the shutdown, the senator said.
“For nine months, Donald Trump has taken a sledgehammer to our federal workforce, intimidating and purging hardworking public servants as he consolidates power. Now, he’s threatening to use the Republican shutdown to inflict even more pain,” Padilla said Thursday.
“California has one of the largest federal workforces in the country, and we must ensure they can pay their bills and stay in their homes through any future shutdown,” he added.
Washington remains in a stalemate Thursday — the ninth day of the government shutdown.
Lawmakers are trying to brainstorm ways out of the standoff that has shuttered government offices, kept hundreds of thousands of federal employees at home, and threatened to leave them without a scheduled payday.
The Federal Employee Civil Relief Act addresses the threat of federal workers and contractors losing their homes for failing to pay rent, falling behind on student loans and other bills, having their car repossessed, or losing their health insurance because they have been furloughed during a shutdown, or required to work without pay.
The legislation would protect impacted workers from:
- Being evicted or foreclosed
- Having their car or other property repossessed
- Falling behind on their student loan payments
- Having negative effects on their credit history
- Falling behind on paying their bills
- Losing their insurance
The protection would last during and 30 days following a shutdown to give workers a chance to keep up with their bills.
President Trump and Republicans have so far held to the stance that they will only negotiate on Democratic demands around health care benefits after they vote to reopen the government.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, a South Dakota Republican, said, “This isn’t a political game. Democrats might feel that way, but I don’t know anybody else that does. The longer this goes on, the more the American people realize that Democrats own this shutdown.”
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said, “Every day that Republicans refuse to negotiate to end this shutdown, the worse it gets for Americans and the clearer it becomes who is fighting for them.”
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