[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 27 (Tuesday, February 12, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Page S1279]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. CARDIN (for himself, Mr. Leahy, Mr. Jones, Ms. Baldwin, 
        Mr. Kaine, Mrs. Feinstein, Ms. Hirono, Ms. Klobuchar, Mr. 
        Durbin, Mrs. Shaheen, Ms. Cortez Masto, Ms. Hassan, and Mr. Van 
        Hollen):
  S. 464. A bill to require the treatment of a lapse in appropriations 
as a mitigating condition when assessing financial considerations for 
security clearances, and for other purposes; read the first time.
  Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce the Protecting 
Employees Security Clearances Act of 2019 (PESCA). I am pleased to have 
Senators Leahy, Jones, Baldwin, Kaine, Feinstein, Hirono, Klobuchar, 
Durbin, Shaheen, Cortez Masto, Hassan, and Van Hollen as cosponsors. 
Our measure would protect federal employees and contractors from losing 
their security clearances due to financial reasons, such as poor credit 
scores, that are attributable to a lapse in federal appropriations. The 
bill directs the Security Executive Agent to ensure that a lapse in 
appropriations (including the one that ended last month) is considered 
as a mitigating factor for initial or continued security clearance 
eligibility during the adjudication process. More specifically, the 
bill states that ``No head of any agency may revoke the national 
security eligibility of a covered employee because of a reduction in 
the credit score or negative information in a consumer credit file of 
the covered employee that is attributable to disrupted income payments 
as a result of a lapse in appropriations.''
  Nearly 80 percent of Americans live from one paycheck to the next. 
They cannot afford to miss even a single paycheck. Federal workers and 
contractors are no different. ``Excepted'' employees--those individuals 
who are compelled to work without pay during a shutdown--are guaranteed 
retroactive pay. The Government Employee Fair Treatment Act (Public Law 
116-1), which I authored, now guarantees retroactive pay for furloughed 
federal workers. I have co-sponsored S. 162, Senator Smith's bill to 
provide retroactive pay for lower wage contractor employees. Currently, 
there is no guarantee that contractor employees will be paid after a 
shutdown ends.
  Many federal workers and contractors are subject to high security 
standards that include rigorous and routine financial background 
checks. Missing payments on debts could create delays in securing or 
renewing security clearances. We shouldn't punish these hard-working, 
patriotic Americans because they are forced to go without pay during a 
shutdown they bear no responsibility for causing. Providing retroactive 
pay is the right and fair thing to do, but forcing these individuals to 
miss one or more paychecks causes real financial harm. At a minimum, 
their security clearances shouldn't be jeopardized as a result.
  Last month, the Federal Bureau of Investigation Agents Association 
(FBIAA) published a report entitled, ``Voices From The Field: FBI Agent 
Accounts of the Real Consequences of the Government Shutdown.'' The 
report warned of the dire national security consequences of the 
shutdown. It also documented the financial hardships FBIAA members were 
facing. Two comments from the FBIAA's Central Region summed up the 
situation. One Agent wrote, ``My wife and I are both FBI employees who 
were recently transferred to a new city and finally bought our first 
home. Now we can't pay the mortgage for it. We contacted our lender, 
and they are refusing to work with us. They don't want our `Hardship 
Letter', they want money, period.'' Another wrote, ``There have been 
several employees who have gotten zero assistance from their mortgage 
lenders and banks regarding home and car loans and still have to make 
payments on time or get penalized. They are truly struggling to make 
ends meet.''
  Last December, when President Trump met with Leader Schumer and soon-
to-be Speaker Pelosi, he boasted about shutting the government down, 
saying, ``I will take the mantle. I will be the one to shut it down.'' 
While President Trump was proud ``to take the mantle,'' innocent 
victims were taking it on the chin. Here we are, less than five days 
away from another potential shutdown. I earnestly hope we can avoid 
another shutdown. But in the interim, we urgently need to mitigate the 
real harm federal workers and contractor employees suffer when they are 
forced to go without their pay. Passing PESCA is one way to do that. 
Just 13 days elapsed between the time I introduced the Government 
Employee Fair Treatment Act and President Trump signed it into law. I 
hope we can act with the same alacrity with respect to PESCA.

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