Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress Senate Bill SB357 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	II
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION S. 357
5	5	To impose restrictions on Federal agencies with respect to appointments,
6	6	and for other purposes.
7	7	IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
8	8	FEBRUARY3, 2025
9	9	Mrs. B
10	10	LACKBURNintroduced the following bill; which was read twice and
11	11	referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
12	12	A BILL
13	13	To impose restrictions on Federal agencies with respect to
14	14	appointments, and for other purposes.
15	15	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
16	16	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
17	17	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
18	18	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Federal Freeze Act’’. 4
19	19	SEC. 2. FREEZE ON FEDERAL HIRING AND SALARIES. 5
20	20	(a) D
21	21	EFINITIONS.—In this section: 6
22	22	(1) A
23	23	GENCY.—The term ‘‘agency’’ has the 7
24	24	meaning given the term in section 551 of title 5, 8
25	25	United States Code. 9
26	26	VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:59 Feb 28, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S357.IS S357
27	27	ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 2
28	28	•S 357 IS
29	29	(2) BASELINE NUMBER .—The term ‘‘baseline 1
30	30	number’’ means, with respect to an agency, the 2
31	31	number of employees employed by the agency (in-3
32	32	cluding individuals occupying full-time equivalent po-4
33	33	sitions in the agency), as of the date of enactment 5
34	34	of this Act. 6
35	35	(3) E
36	36	MPLOYEE.—The term ‘‘employee’’ means 7
37	37	an employee of an agency. 8
38	38	(b) G
39	39	ENERALPROHIBITIONS.—Notwithstanding any 9
40	40	other provision of law or regulation, during the 1-year pe-10
41	41	riod beginning on the date of enactment of this Act, the 11
42	42	following shall apply: 12
43	43	(1)(A) Except as provided in subparagraph (B), 13
44	44	the head of an agency may not increase the number 14
45	45	of employees employed by the agency beyond the 15
46	46	baseline number. 16
47	47	(B) During the 1-year period beginning on the 17
48	48	date of enactment of this Act, the head of an agency 18
49	49	may appoint an individual to a position within the 19
50	50	agency, even if appointing that individual would in-20
51	51	crease the number of employees employed by the 21
52	52	agency beyond the baseline number, if the agency 22
53	53	head determines that— 23
54	54	VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:59 Feb 28, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S357.IS S357
55	55	ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 3
56	56	•S 357 IS
57	57	(i) making that appointment serves the in-1
58	58	terest of law enforcement, public safety, or the 2
59	59	national security of the United States; or 3
60	60	(ii) the individual so appointed is essential 4
61	61	to respond to an emergency declared under sec-5
62	62	tion 501 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Re-6
63	63	lief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 7
64	64	5191). 8
65	65	(2) The annual rate of basic pay of an em-9
66	66	ployee, as in effect on the date of enactment of this 10
67	67	Act, may not be increased. 11
68	68	(c) R
69	69	EDUCTION INFORCE.— 12
70	70	(1) I
71	71	N GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2), 13
72	72	the head of each agency shall take such measures, 14
73	73	without regard to any other provision of law or regu-15
74	74	lation, to ensure that— 16
75	75	(A) as of the date that is 2 years after the 17
76	76	date of enactment of this Act, the number of 18
77	77	employees employed by the agency is 2 percent 19
78	78	less than the baseline number; and 20
79	79	(B) as of the date that is 3 years after the 21
80	80	date of enactment of this Act, the number of 22
81	81	employees employed by the agency is 5 percent 23
82	82	less than the baseline number. 24
83	83	VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:59 Feb 28, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S357.IS S357
84	84	ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 4
85	85	•S 357 IS
86	86	(2) EXEMPTION.—An employee who the head of 1
87	87	the employing agency determines serves the interest 2
88	88	of law enforcement, public safety, or the national se-3
89	89	curity of the United States, or who is essential to re-4
90	90	spond to an emergency declared under section 501 5
91	91	of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emer-6
92	92	gency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5191) (as deter-7
93	93	mined by that agency head), shall not apply for the 8
94	94	purposes of determining the number of employees 9
95	95	employed by that agency under subparagraph (A) or 10
96	96	(B) of paragraph (1). 11
97	97	Æ
98	98	VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:59 Feb 28, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S357.IS S357
99	99	ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS