S. 3005 · Where this bill is now
In committee
Introduced in the Senate, Oct 14, 2025
What this bill does
In plain words · AI-written from the official summaryRequires disclosure of shutdown furlough details
When the federal government shuts down due to a budget lapse, this bill requires agencies to report to Congress and the Office of Personnel Management about which employees were furloughed. Agencies must detail how many workers were sent home, how many kept working, and what those salaries cost. The reports then get published online for the public to see.
How it affects you
This mostly affects people interested in government operations and spending. If you want to know how a shutdown impacted specific federal agencies—like how many employees were affected and at what cost—Congress and the public would have easier access to that information.
Read the official summary (Introduced in Senate, Oct 14, 2025)
Non-Essential Workers Transparency Act
This bill requires federal agencies to submit reports to Congress and the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) regarding employees who were furloughed during a lapse in appropriations (i.e, government shutdown), the total number of employees, and the cost of salaries.
Specifically, each federal agency must submit a report to specified congressional committees and OPM within 30 days of the end of a lapse in appropriations. The report must include specified details regarding
• the total number of employees (including contract employees) employed by the agency before the lapse began,
• the total number of employees who were furloughed during the lapse,
• the total number of employees who were not furloughed during the lapse, and
• the total annual cost of the salaries for each group of employees.
The report must be submitted in an unclassified form, but it may include a classified annex. Each congressional committee that receives a report must publish the report on its website within 30 days.
OPM must consolidate all of the reports submitted with respect to a lapse in appropriations and publish the consolidated report on its website.
Written by AI (Claude) using only the official summary by the Congressional Research Service, the Library of Congress’s nonpartisan research staff. It can miss nuance, so check the official summary and the bill text for details.
1st SessionS. 3005
A BILL
Non-Essential Workers Transparency Act
Sponsor: Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) · Introduced Oct 14, 2025 · Government Operations and Politics · 1 version of the text
Sources: Congress.gov actions and votes · bill text from GovInfo · latest official action Oct 14, 2025: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.”