II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 357
To impose restrictions on Federal agencies with respect to appointments,
and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
FEBRUARY3, 2025
Mrs. B
LACKBURNintroduced the following bill; which was read twice and
referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
A BILL
To impose restrictions on Federal agencies with respect to
appointments, 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 ‘‘Federal Freeze Act’’. 4
SEC. 2. FREEZE ON FEDERAL HIRING AND SALARIES. 5
(a) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 6
(1) A
GENCY.—The term ‘‘agency’’ has the 7
meaning given the term in section 551 of title 5, 8
United States Code. 9
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•S 357 IS
(2) BASELINE NUMBER .—The term ‘‘baseline 1
number’’ means, with respect to an agency, the 2
number of employees employed by the agency (in-3
cluding individuals occupying full-time equivalent po-4
sitions in the agency), as of the date of enactment 5
of this Act. 6
(3) E
MPLOYEE.—The term ‘‘employee’’ means 7
an employee of an agency. 8
(b) G
ENERALPROHIBITIONS.—Notwithstanding any 9
other provision of law or regulation, during the 1-year pe-10
riod beginning on the date of enactment of this Act, the 11
following shall apply: 12
(1)(A) Except as provided in subparagraph (B), 13
the head of an agency may not increase the number 14
of employees employed by the agency beyond the 15
baseline number. 16
(B) During the 1-year period beginning on the 17
date of enactment of this Act, the head of an agency 18
may appoint an individual to a position within the 19
agency, even if appointing that individual would in-20
crease the number of employees employed by the 21
agency beyond the baseline number, if the agency 22
head determines that— 23
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(i) making that appointment serves the in-1
terest of law enforcement, public safety, or the 2
national security of the United States; or 3
(ii) the individual so appointed is essential 4
to respond to an emergency declared under sec-5
tion 501 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Re-6
lief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 7
5191). 8
(2) The annual rate of basic pay of an em-9
ployee, as in effect on the date of enactment of this 10
Act, may not be increased. 11
(c) R
EDUCTION INFORCE.— 12
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2), 13
the head of each agency shall take such measures, 14
without regard to any other provision of law or regu-15
lation, to ensure that— 16
(A) as of the date that is 2 years after the 17
date of enactment of this Act, the number of 18
employees employed by the agency is 2 percent 19
less than the baseline number; and 20
(B) as of the date that is 3 years after the 21
date of enactment of this Act, the number of 22
employees employed by the agency is 5 percent 23
less than the baseline number. 24
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(2) EXEMPTION.—An employee who the head of 1
the employing agency determines serves the interest 2
of law enforcement, public safety, or the national se-3
curity of the United States, or who is essential to re-4
spond to an emergency declared under section 501 5
of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emer-6
gency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5191) (as deter-7
mined by that agency head), shall not apply for the 8
purposes of determining the number of employees 9
employed by that agency under subparagraph (A) or 10
(B) of paragraph (1). 11
Æ
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