Colleges that get federal loans must offer trade education.
H.R. 9955 — Pathway to Trades Act · Filed by Chris Deluzio (D-PA) · Introduced Jul 27, 2026 · Referred to committee
Your members of Congress
Enter a ZIP to see where your representative and both senators stood on this bill.
Looked up on this device — your ZIP is never stored on our servers.
What it does
The bill changes the Higher Education Act. Colleges that get Federal Perkins Loans must pick a staff member to help trade students. They must also make new courses about trades. Students can learn skilled trades at these colleges. They can do this instead of or along with regular degrees.
Who it affects
Students can now take trade courses at colleges that get federal loans. Colleges must name a staff contact for trade students and build new trade courses.
One thing to notice
The bill does not say what counts as a trade. Colleges might teach plumbing, construction, healthcare, IT, or other skills. The bill does not give colleges money to pay for new courses.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
- Jul 27, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Jul 27, 2026 — 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.
Words to know
- Federal Perkins Loans — Money the federal government lends to college students who need help paying.
- Higher Education Act — The main federal law that sets rules for colleges and student aid.
- trade — A skilled job you learn by doing, like plumbing or carpentry.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (578 characters) on Oct 21, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,388 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 2026-10-21.
“Colleges that get federal loans must offer trade education.” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/hr9955/simple Report an error
The week in bills
One email, Sunday: what Congress passed, what it changed, and who paid.
One link arrives to confirm the address. It is used for this email and nothing else, and every issue carries an unsubscribe link.