Federal cybersecurity jobs open to skilled workers without degrees
H.R. 5000 — Cybersecurity Hiring Modernization Act · Filed by Nancy Mace (R-SC) · 2 cosponsors · Introduced Aug 19, 2025 · Reported out
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What it does
This bill amends federal hiring rules for cybersecurity jobs in the competitive civil service. It restricts agencies from requiring a college degree or other educational credentials unless the law explicitly mandates them for the role, or unless the education directly demonstrates the specific skills needed. Agencies must publish their education standards and data on who they hire annually. The intent is to open cybersecurity positions to skilled workers without degrees.
Why we flagged it
The bill's operative mechanism is to remove educational barriers to federal cybersecurity hiring, not to deregulate an industry or grant a subsidy. It is a structural reform of civil-service hiring rules aimed at broadening the talent pool.
What the text implies
- Agencies retain discretion to define what education 'directly reflects' required competencies, potentially allowing subjective gatekeeping under a new standard.
- Annual publication of accession data by education level may reveal hiring disparities but does not mandate corrective action if patterns emerge.
- The bill applies only to competitive-service positions (roughly 55% of federal workforce); excepted service and Senior Executive Service positions are unaffected.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
The bill expands employment opportunity for skilled workers without traditional degrees, lowering barriers to federal cybersecurity jobs and potentially increasing the talent pool for critical national security roles. It also mandates transparency (annual publication of hiring standards and demographic data), which strengthens public accountability over federal hiring practices.
Named in the bill
Office of Personnel Management (OPM), GS-2210 information technology management series, National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education (NICE), NIST Special Publication 800-181
Where it stands
2 cosponsors: 2 Democrats.
- Aug 19, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Aug 19, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform”
- Feb 4, 2026 — Markup held in committee · Congress.gov: “Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held”
- Feb 4, 2026 — Reported out of committee · Congress.gov: “Ordered to be Reported (Amended) by the Yeas and Nays: 44 - 0”
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 1 disclosure filings across 1 quarter, Dec 2025 to Dec 2025. Those filings disclosed $80,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 2 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.
Nancy Mace, the sponsor, reported $8,000 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- International Information System Security Certification Consortium — $80,000 on 1 filing
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jan 15, 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 (1,987 characters) on Jun 8, 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 Dec 2025. 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 Jan 15, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
“Federal cybersecurity jobs open to skilled workers without degrees” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/hr5000 Report an error
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