Federal contractors must pay $25/hour—with teeth for wage theft
H.R. 9571 — Living Wage for Federal Contractors Act · Filed by Alma Adams (D-NC) · 8 cosponsors · Introduced Jul 2, 2026 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill requires all federal contractors to pay workers a minimum wage starting at $17/hour, rising to $25/hour over five years, then adjusting annually for inflation. It applies to employees on federal contracts for goods, services, and work on federal lands, and ties the Davis-Bacon Act, Service Contract Act, and procurement wage standards to whichever is higher—the new federal contractor minimum or existing prevailing-wage rules. Contractors who fail to pay face contract termination, wage-recovery liability (double damages), debarment for three years, and civil penalties.
Why we flagged it
The bill's core mechanism is a mandatory wage floor for federal contractors, enforced through contract termination, wage recovery, and debarment. It is a labor-protection measure, not a subsidy or deregulation.
What the text implies
- The bill ties Davis-Bacon, Service Contract Act, and procurement wage standards to the new federal contractor minimum, potentially raising prevailing-wage floors across multiple statutes simultaneously—a significant expansion of wage protection beyond the stated title.
- Tipped employees are covered at lower rates ($13–$25/hour vs. $17–$25/hour for non-tipped), but still receive substantial increases and inflation adjustments—a departure from the federal tipped minimum of $2.13/hour.
- The 'cross-withholding' provision allows wage recovery from any federal contract with the same contractor, not just the contract where the violation occurred, creating a powerful enforcement mechanism but also potential for disputes over allocation.
- Contractors appearing on the Comptroller General's violation list face a three-year debarment from all federal contracts—a severe penalty that may disproportionately affect small contractors with limited compliance infrastructure.
- The bill exempts Indian tribes and tribal organizations under the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act, creating a carve-out that may reduce wage protections for workers on tribal federal contracts.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
Workers on federal contracts gain enforceable wage floors and a clear path to $25/hour plus inflation adjustments, with strong remedies (double damages, contract termination, debarment) for violations. The bill does not restrict worker rights or remedies; it expands them. Ordinary citizens benefit as taxpayers funding federal contracts—the government is now explicitly requiring that public money support wages above poverty levels.
Who stands to gain
- federal contract workers (direct wage increase)
- labor unions (potential organizing advantage and wage-floor enforcement)
- small contractors with existing above-minimum-wage practices (competitive advantage over wage-cuttin
Named in the bill
Secretary of Labor, Comptroller General, Federal agencies, Federal contractors and subcontractors, Davis-Bacon Act (40 U.S.C. § 3142), Service Contract Act (41 U.S.C. § 6704), Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act, Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W)
Where it stands
8 cosponsors: 8 Democrats.
- Jul 2, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Jul 2, 2026 — Referred to House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and House Committee on Education and Workforce · Congress.gov: “Referred to the Committee on Education and Workforce, and in addition to the Committee on Oversight and…”
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, Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $300,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 46 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.
Alma Adams, the sponsor, reported $291,550 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- Service Employees International Union Ctw-clc — $300,000 on 1 filing
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 (10,606 characters) on Aug 12, 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 20, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
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