Federal Freeze Act

S 357, the Federal Freeze Act, freezes federal hiring and pay for one year starting from its enactment date. It prohibits agencies from increasing their workforce beyond current levels (the "baseline number") or raising employee pay rates, with limited exceptions for law enforcement, public safety, national security, or declared disaster emergencies. After the initial freeze, agencies must reduce their workforce by 2% within two years and 5% within three years of enactment, while exempting employees deemed essential for the same security or emergency reasons. This directly affects all federal agencies and their hiring and compensation practices.