diff --git a/Gemfile.lock b/Gemfile.lock
index 750ac8db9..a4e8eca97 100644
--- a/Gemfile.lock
+++ b/Gemfile.lock
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 PATH
   remote: .
   specs:
-    uswds-jekyll (5.4.0)
+    uswds-jekyll (5.5.0)
       jekyll (>= 4.0, < 5)
       jekyll-autoprefixer
       mini_racer
diff --git a/_includes/components/banner.html b/_includes/components/banner.html
index afe2e25ed..10dd1aa6c 100644
--- a/_includes/components/banner.html
+++ b/_includes/components/banner.html
@@ -16,6 +16,11 @@
       </div>
     </header>
     <div class="usa-banner__content usa-accordion__content" id="gov-banner">
+      <script type="text/javascript">
+        // Hide the gov banner immediately rather than waiting for external JS
+        // sources to load and execute.
+        document.getElementById("gov-banner").setAttribute("hidden", "");
+      </script>
       <div class="grid-row grid-gap-lg">
         <div class="usa-banner__guidance tablet:grid-col-6">
           <img class="usa-banner__icon usa-media-block__img" src="{{ site.baseurl }}/assets/uswds/img/icon-dot-gov.svg" role="img" alt="Dot gov">
diff --git a/uswds-jekyll.gemspec b/uswds-jekyll.gemspec
index 57a17e8df..8a4300bfe 100644
--- a/uswds-jekyll.gemspec
+++ b/uswds-jekyll.gemspec
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 
 Gem::Specification.new do |s|
   s.name          = 'uswds-jekyll'
-  s.version       = '5.4.0'
+  s.version       = '5.5.0'
   s.authors       = ['Shawn Allen', 'Tom Black', 'Brian Hurst', 'Scott Weber', 'Dan O. Williams']
   s.email         = ['daniel.williams@gsa.gov']