Federal agencies can hire contractors without degrees if they explain why.
H.R. 5235 — Skills-Based Federal Contracting Act of 2025 · Filed by Nancy Mace (R-SC) · 2 cosponsors · Introduced Sep 9, 2025 · Passed both chambers
Your members of Congress
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What it does
The bill stops federal agencies from requiring degrees for contractor workers. Agencies must write down why a degree is needed. The government must write new rules within 180 days. An audit must check if agencies follow this rule within 3 years.
Who it affects
Workers without degrees can now apply for federal contractor jobs. Federal agencies must write explanations for degree rules. Taxpayers may see lower contractor costs.
One thing to notice
The bill only requires agencies to write why they need degrees. It does not force agencies to hire workers without degrees.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
2 cosponsors: 2 Democrats.
- Sep 9, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Sep 9, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform”
- Dec 2, 2025 — Markup held in committee · Congress.gov: “Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held”
- Dec 2, 2025 — Reported out of committee · Congress.gov: “Ordered to be Reported (Amended) by the Yeas and Nays: 44 - 0”
- Feb 23, 2026 — Passed the House · Congress.gov: “On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended Agreed to by voice vote. (text: CR H2247)”
- Feb 23, 2026 — Floor vote scheduled · Congress.gov: “Mr. Timmons moved to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended”
- Sep 30, 2026 — Passed both chambers · Congress.gov: “Passed Senate without amendment by Unanimous Consent”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
1 groups reported lobbying about this bill. They filed 1 reports from Jun 2026 to Jun 2026.
Those reports show $60,000 in lobbying spending. Each report lists about 2 bills. So that money was not all for this bill.
More groups named this bill than 0% of bills with any report.
Nancy Mace, who sponsored the bill, received $8,000 from PACs for the 2026 election.
- Nava Pbc — $60,000 in 1 report
Lobbying is legal. These reports show who lobbied about this bill, not what changed.
Words to know
- contractor — A person or company hired by the government to do work.
- federal agencies — Offices and departments of the federal government.
- audit — A check to see if rules are being followed.
- lobbying — Trying to influence lawmakers about a bill. Companies and groups pay people to do this.
- PACs — Groups that collect money and give it to candidates for office.
- sponsored — To sponsor a bill is to introduce it in Congress and put your name on it.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (3,477 characters) on Apr 14, 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 Jun 2026 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 17, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
“Federal agencies can hire contractors without degrees if they explain why.” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/hr5235/simple Report an error
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