[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 42 (Friday, March 5, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Page S1335]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SA 1163. Mr. PORTMAN (for himself, Mr. Scott, of South Carolina, and
Mr. Moran) submitted an amendment intended to be proposed to amendment
SA 891 proposed by Mr. Schumer (for himself, Mr. Wyden, Mrs. Murray,
Mr. Brown, Mr. Peters, Mr. Cardin, Ms. Cantwell, Ms. Stabenow, Mr.
Tester, Mr. Menendez, Mr. Schatz, Mr. Carper, Mr. Leahy, and Mr.
Sanders) to the bill H.R. 1319, to provide for reconciliation pursuant
to title II of S. Con. Res. 5; which was ordered to lie on the table;
as follows:
Strike section 4001 and insert the following:
SEC. 4001. EMERGENCY FEDERAL EMPLOYEE LEAVE FUND.
(a) Establishment; Appropriation.--There is established in
the Treasury the Emergency Federal Employee Leave Fund (in
this section referred to as the ``Fund''), to be administered
by the Director of the Office of Personnel Management, for
the purposes set forth in subsection (b). In addition to
amounts otherwise available, there is appropriated for fiscal
year 2021, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise
appropriated, $15,000,000, which shall be deposited into the
Fund and remain available through September 30, 2022. The
Fund is available for reasonable expenses incurred by the
Office of Personnel Management in administering this section.
(b) Purpose.--Amounts in the Fund shall be available for
reimbursement to an agency for the use of paid leave under
this section by any employee of the agency who is unable to
work because the employee--
(1) is subject to a Federal, State, or local quarantine or
isolation order related to COVID-19;
(2) has been advised by a health care provider to self-
quarantine due to concerns related to COVID-19;
(3) is caring for an individual who is subject to such an
order or has been so advised;
(4) is experiencing symptoms of COVID-19 and seeking a
medical diagnosis;
(5) is caring for a son or daughter of such employee if the
school or place of care of the son or daughter has been
closed, if the school of such son or daughter requires or
makes optional a virtual learning instruction model or
requires or makes optional a hybrid of in-person and virtual
learning instruction models, or the child care provider of
such son or daughter is unavailable, due to COVID-19
precautions;
(6) is experiencing any other substantially similar
condition;
(7) is caring for a family member with a mental or physical
disability or who is 55 years of age or older and incapable
of self-care, without regard to whether another individual
other than the employee is available to care for such family
member, if the place of care for such family member is closed
or the direct care provider is unavailable due to COVID-19;
or
(8) is obtaining immunization related to COVID-19 or to
recover from any injury, disability, illness, or condition
related to such immunization.
(c) Limitations.--
(1) Period of availability.--Paid leave under this section
may only be provided to and used by an employee during the
period beginning on the date of enactment of this Act and
ending on September 30, 2021.
(2) Total hours; amount.--Paid leave under this section--
(A) shall be provided to an employee in an amount not to
exceed 600 hours of paid leave for each full-time employee,
and in the case of a part-time employee, employee on an
uncommon tour of duty, or employee with a seasonal work
schedule, in an amount not to exceed the proportional
equivalent of 600 hours to the extent amounts in the Fund
remain available for reimbursement;
(B) shall be paid at the same hourly rate as other leave
payments; and
(C) may not be provided to an employee if the leave would
result in payments greater than $2,800 in aggregate for any
biweekly pay period for a full-time employee, or a
proportionally equivalent biweekly limit for a part-time
employee.
(3) Relationship to other leave.--Paid leave under this
section--
(A) is in addition to any other leave provided to an
employee;
(B) may not be used by an employee concurrently with any
other paid leave; and
(C) may not be used by an employee unless the employee has
first used other sick leave available to that employee for a
purpose described in subsection (b).
(4) Calculation of retirement benefit.--Any paid leave
provided to an employee under this section shall reduce the
total service used to calculate any Federal civilian
retirement benefit.
(5) Special consideration of sick leave.--During the period
described in paragraph (1), an employee may use sick leave
otherwise accrued to the employee for any purpose described
in subsection (b).
(d) Reopening Schools.--In addition to amounts otherwise
available, there is appropriated to the Federal Emergency
Management Agency for fiscal year 2021, out of any money in
the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, $400,000,000, to
remain available until September 30, 2025, to carry out the
purposes of the Disaster Relief Fund for the emergency
declaration issued by the President on March 13, 2020,
pursuant to section 501(b) of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster
Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5191(b)), and
for any subsequent major disaster declaration that supersedes
such emergency declaration, to reimburse eligible costs to
support the safe reopening and operation of schools.
(e) Employee Defined.--In this section, the term
``employee'' means--
(1) an individual in the executive branch for whom annual
and sick leave is provided under subchapter I of chapter 63
of title 5, United States Code;
(2) an individual employed by the United States Postal
Service;
(3) an individual employed by the Postal Regulatory
Commission; and
(4) an employee of the Public Defender Service for the
District of Columbia and the District of Columbia Courts.
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