Labor Department launches paid fellowship pilot to get veterans into jobs
H.R. 1884 — Veterans Fellowship Act · Filed by John Moolenaar (R-MI) · 5 cosponsors · Introduced Mar 5, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill directs the Department of Labor to run a pilot program in 3–5 states where veterans can participate in short-term fellowships (up to 20 weeks) with employers, receiving monthly stipends and a pathway to permanent employment. The program uses existing grant authority and authorizes $10 million per year for five years to fund it.
Why we flagged it
The bill's sole operative mechanism is a time-limited, federally funded pilot to test short-term fellowship models for veterans. It is a straightforward employment-support initiative with no hidden riders or narrow carve-outs.
What the text implies
- Program success depends on non-profit partner capacity and employer willingness to hire fellows; outcomes may vary significantly by state and industry.
- Comptroller General report (due year 4) will determine whether the model scales nationally; pilot results could influence future veterans' employment policy.
- Monthly stipends and employer participation incentives may create cost pressures if demand exceeds available slots in selected states.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
Veterans gain direct access to paid short-term work experience, monthly income during the fellowship, and a clear pathway to permanent employment. The program is narrowly targeted, time-limited, and designed to improve employment outcomes for a population facing documented barriers to labor-market entry.
Who stands to gain
- veterans (stipend recipients)
- non-profit organizations (program operators)
- employers (potential workforce pipeline)
Named in the bill
Assistant Secretary of Labor for Veterans' Employment and Training, Department of Labor, Comptroller General of the United States, House Committee on Veterans' Affairs, Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs, non-profit organizations, participating states
Where it stands
5 cosponsors: 5 Democrats.
- Mar 5, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Mar 5, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Veterans' Affairs · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
1 lobbying clients named this bill on 2 disclosure filings across 2 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $310,451 in lobbying spend. A filing names 170 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 0% of bills with at least one filing.
John Moolenaar, the sponsor, reported $595,100 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- Disabled American Veterans — $310,451 on 2 filings
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 21, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (1,702 characters) on Aug 24, 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.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 21, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
“Labor Department launches paid fellowship pilot to get veterans into jobs” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/hr1884 Report an error
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