Federal contractors must justify college degree requirements or remove them
H.R. 3893 — Employment Abundance Act · Filed by Ritchie Torres (D-NY) · Introduced Jun 10, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill requires the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council to issue rules forcing all federal contractors to review their job postings and identify positions that demand a college degree without a genuine occupational need. Contractors must report which degree requirements lack demonstrable necessity and propose alternatives like work experience or skills tests. Contractors who fail to comply face potential loss of future federal contracts.
Why we flagged it
The bill's core mechanism is a regulatory mandate requiring federal contractors to audit and remove unnecessary degree requirements from job classifications. It is fundamentally a labor-market access measure, not a deregulation or subsidy.
What the text implies
- Contractors may respond by raising wages or improving non-degree credentials (certifications, apprenticeships) to remain competitive, potentially benefiting workers without degrees.
- Compliance costs (audits, reporting, reclassification) may be absorbed by contractors or passed to federal agencies through higher contract bids, indirectly affecting taxpayers.
- The bill does not mandate removal of degree requirements—only identification and justification—so contractors can retain them if they demonstrate occupational necessity, limiting actual job-opening expansion.
- Enforcement relies on FAR Council regulations and threat of contract ineligibility; actual enforcement vigor depends on agency resources and political will, creating implementation uncertainty.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
The bill removes artificial barriers to employment for workers without college degrees, expanding job access in the federal contracting sector where degree requirements often exceed actual job needs. This directly benefits workers seeking employment and reduces credentialism-driven exclusion, though compliance costs may be passed to contractors and ultimately reflected in contract pricing.
Who stands to gain
- workers without college degrees (expanded employment access)
- skills-assessment and certification providers (potential increase in demand for alternative credenti
Named in the bill
Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council, Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), Federal contractors, U.S. federal government (as contracting entity)
Where it stands
- Jun 10, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Jun 10, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform”
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 (2,016 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 2026-10-20.
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