PlainBillCongress, translated.Legislation. Context. Public interest.Read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
Congressional Research Service
Version 00 · 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.
People & committees
Sen. Ernst, Joni [R-IA] · R–IA
Legislative record
A procedural vote is different from passage. Passage in one chamber does not establish enactment. Explore the glossary.
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
Introduced in Senate
Primary sources
Text links open the official source. We currently store references to these documents.
Source last updated: Nov 6, 2025. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
AI Conversation Starters
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.
Analyze S.3005 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.
Examine S.3005 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.
Examine S.3005 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.
Examine S.3005 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.