Congress expands tax break to boost military spouse hiring
S. 1027 — Military Spouse Hiring Act · Filed by Tim Kaine (D-VA) · 39 cosponsors · Introduced Mar 13, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill expands the federal Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC) — a tax break for employers who hire people from targeted groups — to include spouses of active-duty military members. Employers who hire a military spouse will receive a tax credit on wages paid to that employee, reducing their federal tax liability.
Why we flagged it
The bill's sole mechanism is to expand an existing tax-credit program to a new eligible population. It is a straightforward employment-support measure with no hidden riders or complex cross-references.
What the text implies
- The credit's value depends on the wage-credit formula in IRC §51(b), which is not restated here; the actual tax benefit per hire is determined by existing statute, not this bill.
- Effectiveness depends on employer awareness and uptake; if employers do not know about the credit or find certification burdensome, the hiring incentive may be weak.
- Military spouses' employment outcomes will also depend on labor-market conditions, geographic availability of jobs near military bases, and whether the credit is large enough to overcome other hiring barriers.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
Military spouses face documented employment barriers due to frequent relocations and service-related constraints. Adding them to the WOTC creates a direct hiring incentive for employers, improving job access and wage prospects for this population. The tax credit is modest and does not shift costs to other citizens — it is a targeted employment incentive.
Who stands to gain
- employers hiring military spouses (via reduced federal tax liability)
Named in the bill
Internal Revenue Code §51, Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC), U.S. Armed Forces, designated local agency
Where it stands
39 cosponsors: 20 Republicans, 17 Democrats, 2 Independents.
- Mar 13, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Mar 13, 2025 — Referred to Senate Committee on Finance · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
4 lobbying clients named this bill on 5 disclosure filings across 2 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $1,988,079 in lobbying spend. A filing names 18 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 72% of bills with at least one filing.
Tim Kaine, the sponsor, reported $125,658 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- United Services Automobile Association — $890,000 on 2 filings
- Military Officers Association of America — $854,387 on 1 filing
- Association of the United States Army, (inc.) — $123,692 on 1 filing
- Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America Inc — $120,000 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 (1,026 characters) on Jun 3, 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.
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