Congress asks OMB to count direct support workers—a hidden workforce in crisis
H.R. 6137 — Recognizing the Role of Direct Support Professionals Act · Filed by Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) · 50 cosponsors · Introduced Nov 19, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill asks the Office of Management and Budget to create a separate job classification code for direct support professionals—workers who help people with intellectual and developmental disabilities with daily living tasks, community participation, and independence. The bill does not mandate the change; it requires OMB to consider it during the next revision of the Standard Occupational Classification system and report back to Congress if they decline, with no new funding required.
Why we flagged it
The bill's sole operative mechanism is a request to OMB to consider establishing a separate occupational code for direct support professionals within an existing statistical classification system. It is a data-governance and labor-market transparency measure, not a spending bill, regulatory mandate, or entitlement expansion.
What the text implies
- Establishing a discrete occupational code may enable states and the federal government to identify and quantify direct support professional shortages more precisely, potentially informing future Medicaid reimbursement rates or workforce development funding.
- Improved occupational data could support advocacy for wage increases or better working conditions by making the scale and turnover crisis more visible to policymakers and the public.
- The bill does not require OMB to act, only to consider the change and report if declining; implementation depends entirely on OMB's discretion and the next scheduled SOC revision cycle.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
The bill improves data collection and labor-market visibility for a workforce experiencing severe turnover (39% nationally), which directly serves people with disabilities by enabling better workforce planning and retention strategies. It imposes no costs on citizens and creates no new restrictions; it is a transparency and accountability measure aimed at a chronically underserved population.
Named in the bill
Office of Management and Budget, Standard Occupational Classification system, direct support professionals, individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities, home- and community-based services providers, National Core Indicators, Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, Committee on Education and Workforce
Where it stands
50 cosponsors: 33 Democrats, 17 Republicans.
- Nov 19, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Nov 19, 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
3 lobbying clients named this bill on 6 disclosure filings across 3 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $841,217 in lobbying spend. A filing names 6 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 61% of bills with at least one filing.
Brian Fitzpatrick, the sponsor, reported $2,362,211 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- AFL-CIO — $760,000 on 1 filing
- American Network of Community Options and Resources — $66,032 on 2 filings
- Easterseals, Inc. — $15,185 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 (4,077 characters) on Aug 20, 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 20, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
“Congress asks OMB to count direct support workers—a hidden workforce in crisis” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/hr6137 Report an error
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