Energy Department must add worker and community rules to grants.
S. 5401 — Good Energy Jobs Act of 2026 · Filed by Martin Heinrich (D-NM) · Introduced Sep 15, 2026 · Referred to committee
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What it does
The bill requires the Department of Energy to add rules to its money. Companies that get money must pay workers a set wage. They must hire apprentices, stay neutral about unions, and make products in America. They must also make plans to help poor and small communities. The bill sets up ways to check that companies follow the rules.
Who it affects
Workers on energy projects get rules that promise fair pay and apprenticeships. Small and poor communities get a promise that 40 percent of money goes to help them. Companies that get money must follow all these new rules.
One thing to notice
The bill says 40 percent of the money must go to projects that help small or poor communities. This may change which projects get funded.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
- Sep 15, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Sep 15, 2026 — Referred to Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Words to know
- apprentices — People who learn a job while they work and earn money.
- neutral about unions — A rule that stops companies from fighting against workers joining unions.
- set wage — A required pay rate that workers on a project must earn.
- plans to help poor and small communities — Written promises a company makes to help the area where it builds.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (29,151 characters) on Oct 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.
As of — page rendered 2026-10-20.
“Energy Department must add worker and community rules to grants.” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/s5401/simple Report an error
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