I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 209
To hold the salaries of Members of a House of Congress in escrow if the
House of Congress does not pass regular appropriation bills on a timely
basis during a Congress, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY3, 2025
Mr. W
ITTMANintroduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on House Administration
A BILL
To hold the salaries of Members of a House of Congress
in escrow if the House of Congress does not pass regular
appropriation bills on a timely basis during a Congress,
and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Inaction Has Con-4
sequences Act’’. 5
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SEC. 2. HOLDING SALARIES OF MEMBERS OF CONGRESS IN 1
ESCROW UPON FAILURE TO PASS REGULAR 2
APPROPRIATION BILLS. 3
(a) H
OLDINGSALARIES INESCROW.—If by the first 4
day of a fiscal year (beginning with fiscal year 2026), a 5
House of Congress has not passed each of the regular ap-6
propriation bills for such fiscal year, during the period de-7
scribed in subsection (b) the payroll administrator of that 8
House of Congress shall deposit in an escrow account all 9
payments otherwise required to be made during such pe-10
riod for the compensation of Members of Congress who 11
serve in that House of Congress, and shall release such 12
payments to such Members only upon the expiration of 13
such period. 14
(b) P
ERIODDESCRIBED.—With respect to a House 15
of Congress and a fiscal year, the period described in this 16
paragraph is the period which begins on the first day of 17
the fiscal year and ends on the earlier of— 18
(1) the first day by which the House of Con-19
gress has passed each of the regular appropriation 20
bills for such fiscal year; or 21
(2) the last day of the Congress during which 22
that fiscal year begins. 23
(c) R
EGULARAPPROPRIATIONBILLDEFINED.—The 24
term ‘‘regular appropriation bill’’ means any annual ap-25
propriation bill which, with respect to the Congress in-26
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•HR 209 IH
volved, is under the jurisdiction of a single subcommittee 1
of the Committee on Appropriations of the House of Rep-2
resentatives (pursuant to the Rules of the House of Rep-3
resentatives for that Congress) and a single subcommittee 4
of the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate (pursu-5
ant to the Standing Rules of the Senate). 6
SEC. 3. ADMINISTRATION OF ESCROW. 7
(a) W
ITHHOLDING AND REMITTANCE OF AMOUNTS 8
F
ROMPAYMENTSHELD INESCROW.—The payroll admin-9
istrator shall provide for the same withholding and remit-10
tance with respect to a payment deposited in an escrow 11
account under section 2 that would apply to the payment 12
if the payment were not subject to such section. 13
(b) R
OLE OFSECRETARY OF THE TREASURY.—The 14
Secretary of the Treasury shall provide the payroll admin-15
istrators of the Houses of Congress with such assistance 16
as may be necessary to enable the payroll administrators 17
to carry out this Act. 18
SEC. 4. RELEASE OF AMOUNTS AT END OF A CONGRESS. 19
In order to ensure that this Act is carried out in a 20
manner consistent with the twenty-seventh article of 21
amendment to the Constitution of the United States, the 22
payroll administrator of a House of Congress shall release 23
for payments to Members of that House of Congress any 24
amounts remaining in any escrow account under section 25
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2 on the last day of the Congress during which the 1
amounts were deposited in such account. 2
SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS. 3
In this Act— 4
(1) the term ‘‘Member’’ includes a Delegate or 5
Resident Commissioner to the Congress; and 6
(2) the ‘‘payroll administrator’’ of a House of 7
Congress means— 8
(A) in the case of the House of Represent-9
atives, the Chief Administrative Officer of the 10
House of Representatives, or an employee of 11
the Office of the Chief Administrative Officer 12
who is designated by the Chief Administrative 13
Officer to carry out this Act; and 14
(B) in the case of the Senate, the Sec-15
retary of the Senate, or an employee of the Of-16
fice of the Secretary of the Senate who is des-17
ignated by the Secretary to carry out this Act. 18
Æ
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