Skills-Based Federal Contracting Act of 2025

Floor Speech

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 5235. This bill makes it easier for Americans who have valuable skills and experience to be hired as contractors, even if they don't have college degrees. It gets rid of minimum education and experience requirements that don't make sense in some of these Federal contracting solicitations.

That is not to say a college education isn't valuable; but, too often, Federal agencies put unnecessary degree requirements on contractor positions. These unnecessary requirements hurt a lot of people.

More than 77 percent of Americans over 25 don't have a bachelor's degree. Many of those individuals have skills, training, and knowledge to support our agencies and serve the American people. We shouldn't block them from those opportunities.

Mr. Speaker, I encourage my colleagues to support H.R. 5235, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleagues and the patrons for their work on this bill. I urge colleagues to vote ``yes'' on H.R. 5235, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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