PlainBillCongress, translated.Legislation. Context. Public interest.
H.R.1916 / 119th Congress

Pay Our Border Patrol and Customs Agents Act of 2025

Referred to the House Committee on Appropriations.

Official summary

Version 00 · Introduced in House · Mar 6, 2025

Pay Our Border Patrol and Customs Agents Act of 2025

This bill provides FY2025 appropriations for the salaries and expenses of certain U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) employees who are required to work during a lapse in appropriations (i.e., government shutdown) in FY2025.

Specifically, the bill provides appropriations to CBP for the salaries and expenses of agents of the U.S. Border Patrol and officers of the Office of Field Operations who are excepted from furlough (i.e., required to work) during a lapse in discretionary appropriations in FY2025. 

Read the summary on Congress.gov

Who introduced it

Rep. De La Cruz, Monica [R-TX-15] · R–TX

Committees

  • Appropriations Committee
20 cosponsorship records, including any withdrawals

Actions

A procedural vote is different from passage. Passage in one chamber does not establish enactment. Explore the glossary.

  1. Referred to the House Committee on Appropriations.

  2. Introduced in House

  3. Introduced in House

Bill text & related measures

Text links open the official source. We also preserved the text version used in the PlainBill explanation below.

Related bills identified by Congress.gov

No related bills are listed in this snapshot. This does not establish whether the proposal has appeared in earlier Congresses.

Source last updated: May 12, 2025. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.

Explore the bill from different angles

Choose a perspective, copy a prompt, and paste it into your preferred AI. Each prompt includes the bill version and available official source links, and asks for counterarguments as well as supporting evidence.

Neutral evidence review

Objective

Analyze H.R.1916 as objectively as possible. Explain its main provisions, who would be affected, possible benefits and harms, implementation, exceptions, and uncertainties. Present the strongest arguments for and against it, and identify evidence needed to assess its public impact.

View full prompt & sources
Fairness and public impact

Progressive lens

Examine H.R.1916 through a progressive lens, focusing on fairness, access, economic inequality, and effects on vulnerable communities. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and distinguish stated goals from demonstrated outcomes.

View full prompt & sources
Institutions and government scope

Conservative lens

Examine H.R.1916 through a conservative lens, focusing on fiscal responsibility, institutional stability, federalism, and the scope of government. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and any provisions that challenge this perspective.

View full prompt & sources
Individual rights and government power

Liberty lens

Examine H.R.1916 through a civil-liberties and limited-government lens. Consider individual rights, privacy, voluntary choice, accountability, and government power. Explain tradeoffs, possible safeguards, and the strongest counterarguments without assuming the proposal is beneficial or harmful.

View full prompt & sources

Read the proposal in plain language

AI-generated · Source-checked by AI · Nov 5, 2026

Based on the full Introduced in House · 2025-03-06 text. This explanation has not received human editorial review. This overview describes the proposal’s major provisions; it does not establish what its real-world effects would be.

What it would do

This bill proposes funding to pay salaries and expenses for U.S. Border Patrol agents and Customs and Border Protection Office of Field Operations officers who must keep working during a government funding lapse. It would cover qualifying lapses in fiscal year 2025 that begin on or after enactment. The proposal does not cover every federal employee affected by a shutdown.

Check the source
There are appropriated for fiscal year 2025, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, such sums as are necessary to pay, during any period of a lapse in discretionary appropriations during such fiscal year beginning on or after the date of the enactment of this section, the salaries and expenses of any Agents of the U.S. Border Patrol and officers of the Office of Field Operations within U.S. Customs and Border Protection excepted from furlough during such lapse.
Official bill text · Introduced in House · 2025-03-06

How it would work

If enacted, the bill would directly provide funding from Treasury money not already assigned to another purpose. It specifies whatever amount is necessary for the covered salaries and expenses, rather than a fixed dollar amount.

Check the sources
There are appropriated for fiscal year 2025, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, such sums as are necessary to pay
Official bill text · Introduced in House · 2025-03-06
the salaries and expenses of any Agents of the U.S. Border Patrol and officers of the Office of Field Operations within U.S. Customs and Border Protection excepted from furlough during such lapse.
Official bill text · Introduced in House · 2025-03-06

Coverage would be limited to the specified agents and officers who are excepted from furlough—meaning they continue working instead of being temporarily placed off duty during the funding lapse.

Check the sources
Payment of salaries of certain CBP employees working during a Government shutdown
Official bill text · Introduced in House · 2025-03-06
the salaries and expenses of any Agents of the U.S. Border Patrol and officers of the Office of Field Operations within U.S. Customs and Border Protection excepted from furlough during such lapse.
Official bill text · Introduced in House · 2025-03-06

The proposed funding would apply during a lapse in discretionary appropriations—the funding Congress supplies through spending legislation—only in fiscal year 2025 and only if the lapse begins on or after this section becomes law.

Check the sources
during any period of a lapse in discretionary appropriations during such fiscal year beginning on or after the date of the enactment of this section
Official bill text · Introduced in House · 2025-03-06
There are appropriated for fiscal year 2025
Official bill text · Introduced in House · 2025-03-06

What the record shows

Riders & Targeted Benefits

Reviewed version: Introduced in House · 2025-03-06. These findings describe provisions and who may benefit; they are not judgments of waste, corruption, or motive.

This review covers the supplied bill text. “None identified” does not rule out provisions in later versions or accompanying reports and disclosures.

Riders

Provisions outside the bill’s main subject, or policy changes attached to appropriations.

None identified in the reviewed text

No unrelated provision or additional policy change attached to the appropriation was identified in the complete supplied introduced text. This conclusion is limited to that version.

Earmarks

Spending directed to particular recipients or places outside ordinary competitive or formula-based allocation.

None identified in the reviewed text

No congressionally directed spending for particular recipients or places meeting the earmark definition was identified in the complete supplied introduced text. This conclusion does not establish absence in other versions or accompanying materials.

Other targeted benefits

Narrow exceptions, exemptions, or preferential treatment that warrant a closer look.

None identified in the reviewed text

No separate narrow carve-out, special exemption, or preferential treatment beyond the program's intended coverage was identified in the complete supplied introduced text. This conclusion is limited to that version.

What this analysis cannot establish

  • The supplied text is the introduced version. The dated actions snapshot does not establish whether the bill later advanced, changed, or became law.
  • The text provides no dollar estimate, covered employee count, or detailed payment procedures.
  • No member requests, earmark disclosures, committee reports, or conference materials are supplied; formal earmark status cannot be independently established.

Full text preserved for this analysis. Legislative record snapshot: May 12, 2025. How PlainBill uses AI