Bill would strip federal workers' comp from Guam defense workers
H.R. 876 — To amend the Defense Base Act to exclude Guam. · Filed by James (Jim) Moylan (R-GU) · Introduced Jan 31, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill amends the Defense Base Act to exclude Guam from its coverage. The Defense Base Act currently provides workers' compensation and benefits to certain employees working on U.S. military bases and related defense facilities. The bill narrows that coverage by removing Guam from the definition of territories and possessions to which the Act applies, meaning workers in Guam would no longer be eligible for Defense Base Act protections.
Why we flagged it
The bill's operative mechanism is to narrow the geographic scope of federal workers' compensation coverage by excluding a specific U.S. territory, reducing protections for a defined class of workers.
What the text implies
- Workers in Guam may face gaps in compensation coverage if Guam's local workers' compensation system does not provide equivalent protections or if there is no seamless transition mechanism.
- The exclusion may create a two-tier system where defense workers in other U.S. territories retain federal protections while Guam workers do not, despite performing similar work.
- The bill does not specify what compensation scheme would replace Defense Base Act coverage for affected Guam workers, creating potential ambiguity about their legal remedies.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
Defense workers in Guam would lose access to federal workers' compensation protections under the Defense Base Act, shifting them to whatever local or alternative compensation schemes exist in Guam. This removes a federal safety net for a vulnerable population working in defense-related roles.
Who stands to gain
- U.S. federal government (reduced Defense Base Act liability and benefit payouts)
- Defense contractors operating in Guam (reduced workers' compensation costs if they absorb the gap)
Named in the bill
Defense Base Act, Guam, U.S. Department of Labor, Defense contractors, 42 U.S.C. § 1651
Where it stands
- Jan 31, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Jan 31, 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.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (392 characters) on Jul 2, 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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