Warner introduces legislation to fix credit reports of Virginians affected by shutdown

U.S. Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) joined Sens. Brian Schatz (D-HI) and John Kennedy (R-LA) to introduce the Federal Employee Civil Relief Act, legislation to protect the credit reports of federal workers and contractors who were hurt by the longest government shutdown in U.S. history.

“The recent shutdown may be over, but federal employees and contractors are still feeling its effects,” said Sen. Warner. “They shouldn’t have their credit scores threatened because the President recklessly decided to shutter the government for 35 days.”

The bipartisan Protect Federal Workers’ Credit Act would require credit bureaus to remove negative information that was placed on the credit reports of federal workers and contractors who missed payments as a result of a government shutdown. The bill would apply to the recent shutdown and any future government shutdowns.

Virginia is home to more than 170,000 federal employees and thousands of federal government contractors. During the 35-day shutdown, Sen. Warner met and heard from Virginia families who had to miss bills or draw down on their savings to afford basic necessities. These financial decisions can have a damaging effect on an individual’s credit score and make it harder to qualify for future bank loans.

Sen. Warner previously introduced the Stop STUPIDITY Act to end the threat of future shutdowns and protect federal government workers from being used as pawns in political negotiations. In addition, Sen. Warner introduced legislation that the President signed into law that secured back pay for federal workers. He continues to press the Administration and his colleagues to pass bipartisan legislation that would provide back pay to low- and middle-wage federal contractor service employees affected by the government shutdown.

A copy of the legislation can be found here.