Pay and benefits money is available for back pay after a lapse
Making continuing appropriations and extensions for fiscal year 2026, and for other purposes, section 5, Sec. 5.
Written by .
Pay and benefits money is available for back pay after a lapse
The document says “shall”Who acts: heads of departments and agenciesHow: statuteSec. 5 in the PDF
What the document says
“Notwithstanding section 106(1), amounts made available in divisions A through D of the Continuing Appropriations, Agriculture, Legislative Branch, Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, and Extensions Act, 2026 for personnel pay, allowances, and benefits in each department and agency shall be available for payments pursuant to subsection (c) of section 1341 of title 31, United States Code and such payments shall be made.”
Section 116 of division A makes the pay money in divisions A through D available for the payments described in section 1341(c) of title 31, the provision that deals with pay for work done during a lapse in appropriations, and says those payments shall be made.
What the document actually says
“Notwithstanding section 106(1), amounts made available in divisions A through D of the Continuing Appropriations, Agriculture, Legislative Branch, Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, and Extensions Act, 2026 for personnel pay, allowances, and benefits in each department and agency shall be available for payments pursuant to subsection (c) of section 1341 of title 31, United States Code and such payments shall be made.”
That sentence, in plain words
Money set aside for pay can be used for the pay owed from the shutdown. That pay must be made.
What this is about
The government ran out of money in October 2025 and shut down. Workers still had pay coming. This says the money is there for it.
No action is recorded against this proposal. That is not evidence that none has been taken, and nobody has yet read it against the record. See what the tracker does not yet cover.
Continuing Appropriations, Agriculture, Legislative Branch, Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, and Extensions Act, 2026, Public Law 119-37, sec. 5, 139 Stat. 496 (2025). https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/PLAW-119publ37/html/PLAW-119publ37.htm
This page
“Pay and benefits money is available for back pay after a lapse,” Continuing Appropriations, Agriculture, Legislative Branch, Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, and Extensions Act, 2026, section 5, Sec. 5. Read the Mandate, https://readthemandate.org/continuing-appropriations-agriculture-legislative/proposal/sec05-pay-and-back-pay-after-a-lapse/ (retrieved October 10, 2026).
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