Labor Department funds $2.5B worker training—but businesses design the curriculum
H.R. 5296 — BUILDS Act · Filed by Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR) · 2 cosponsors · Introduced Sep 11, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
The BUILDS Act authorizes the Department of Labor to award competitive grants (up to $2.5 million per partnership for initial grants, $1.5 million for renewals) to industry-sector partnerships in infrastructure fields—energy, construction, IT, utilities, and transportation—to design and deliver worker training, apprenticeships, and career pathways. Grants fund planning, business engagement, and support services (childcare, transportation, wages during training) to help workers, especially those facing employment barriers, enter and advance in these sectors. The bill appropriates $500 million annually for five years.
Why we flagged it
The bill's operative mechanism is a federal grant program for worker training and apprenticeships in infrastructure sectors. It is not a deregulation, tax carve-out, or immunity grant—it is a direct public investment in human capital and sector workforce development.
What the text implies
- Grants flow through 'eligible partnerships' (industry-sector coalitions) rather than directly to workers or public training institutions, creating intermediary capture risk: businesses and industry associations control curriculum design, credential standards, and worker selection within the partnership structure.
- The bill requires partnerships to identify 'targeted infrastructure industries' and align training to business-identified needs, potentially subordinating worker career choice and public workforce planning to private sector labor demand signals.
- Performance metrics are tied to 'recognized postsecondary credentials' and apprenticeship completion, not wage outcomes or long-term employment stability; partnerships may optimize for credential attainment rather than sustainable job quality.
- Administrative costs capped at 5% for partnerships and 10% for DOL may create pressure to minimize support services (childcare, transportation) relative to training delivery, despite these being critical barriers for low-income workers.
- No explicit requirement that businesses receiving partnership support maintain employment of trained workers beyond the grant period; training may subsidize temporary workforce cycling rather than permanent advancement.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
The bill directly funds worker training, apprenticeships, and wraparound support services (childcare, transportation) for individuals facing employment barriers, with explicit performance tracking and sustainability requirements. Workers gain access to paid work-based learning, career pathways, and support to enter high-wage infrastructure sectors; no restrictions on worker rights or remedies are imposed.
Who stands to gain
- energy sector employers (renewable and traditional)
- construction contractors and firms
- information technology companies
- utilities and transportation operators
- registered apprenticeship sponsors
- education and training providers (community colleges, CTE programs, private training firms)
Named in the bill
Department of Labor, Department of Transportation, Department of Energy, Department of Commerce, Army Corps of Engineers, Department of Education, industry or sector partnerships, registered apprenticeship programs, local boards, state boards, career and technical education providers, Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act — and 3 more
Where it stands
2 cosponsors: 1 Democrats, 1 Republicans.
- Sep 11, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Sep 11, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Education and Workforce · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Education and Workforce”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
2 lobbying clients named this bill on 4 disclosure filings across 2 quarters, Mar 2026 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $720,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 38 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 41% of bills with at least one filing.
Suzanne Bonamici, the sponsor, reported $461,650 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- American Trucking Associations — $720,000 on 1 filing
- Network — $0 on 3 filings
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 20, 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 (16,790 characters) on Aug 18, 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 Mar 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 20, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
“Labor Department funds $2.5B worker training—but businesses design the curriculum” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/hr5296 Report an error
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