Federal funds cut off for employers who lock out workers
H.R. 10194 — PRO–WORK Act · Filed by Frank Mrvan (D-IN) · Introduced Aug 31, 2026 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill prohibits employers engaged in a lockout from receiving federal funds or tax credits. During a lockout and for an equal period afterward (or one year if the employer has locked out before), the employer cannot access federal money or most tax benefits. Employers must also repay any federal funds they received during lockouts that occurred after January 1, 2026. Workers benefit by reducing employers' financial incentive to lock them out; employers lose access to federal support during labor disputes.
Why we flagged it
The bill's core mechanism is to impose financial penalties on employers who engage in lockouts by denying them federal funds and tax credits. This is a direct labor-protection measure designed to deter lockout tactics and strengthen worker bargaining power.
What the text implies
- The retroactive reimbursement clause (subsection b) requires employers to repay federal funds received during lockouts back to January 1, 2026, even if the lockout occurred before the bill's enactment — this creates a lookback liability for past conduct.
- The definition of 'lock-out period' references the NLRA but does not specify whether it includes partial lockouts, sector-specific lockouts, or lockouts of subsets of the workforce — implementation may turn on NLRB interpretation.
- Tax credit denial is broad ('no credit shall be allowed under this title') and applies to all federal tax credits, not just labor-related ones — this may capture R&D credits, investment credits, and other unrelated business incentives.
- The aggregation rule (section 54(c)) treats all persons under common control as a single employer for lockout purposes, potentially capturing parent companies or affiliated entities that did not directly conduct the lockout.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
The bill directly strengthens workers' bargaining position by imposing a financial cost on employers who lock out employees, reducing the employer's ability to sustain a lockout through federal support. This shifts leverage toward workers in labor disputes and discourages lockout tactics.
Who stands to gain
- workers and labor unions (through reduced employer leverage during disputes)
Named in the bill
National Labor Relations Act, Internal Revenue Code of 1986, Secretary of Labor, Secretary of the Treasury, NLRB (implied)
Where it stands
- Aug 31, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Aug 31, 2026 — Referred to House Committee on Education and Workforce and House Committee on Ways and Means · Congress.gov: “Referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, and in addition to the Committee on Education and Workforce, for…”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (3,542 characters) on Sep 5, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
As of — page rendered 2026-10-21.
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