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Creates a new NSF competitive grant program to fund STEM apprenticeship programs that are not run by four‑year colleges and universities, with grants available to states, tribes, community partners, community colleges, minority‑serving institutions, and consortia. The NSF Director must set application rules, allow funds for recruitment, planning, technical assistance, emerging technology, and partnerships, and give preference to existing registered apprenticeship programs and certain institutions. Also requires an eight‑member interagency Task Force (EPA, NSF, OSTP, Commerce, Education, Energy, HHS, Labor) to identify and report to Congress, within one year, all federal STEM career‑training programs run through registered apprenticeships, community colleges, or minority‑serving institutions; the Task Force ends after the report. The measure authorizes the program but does not specify funding amounts.
The bill expands and targets federal support for employer‑led STEM apprenticeships—strengthening community and minority‑serving training pipelines and improving job pathways for students—while raising federal spending, concentrating grant awards toward priority recipients, and placing some limits on how funds can be used and how long federal coordination will be sustained.
Community colleges, minority‑serving institutions, and registered apprenticeship sponsors receive statutory preference for grants, strengthening local training pipelines and expanding access to employer-led STEM apprenticeship programs.
Students and young adults gain new paid STEM apprenticeship opportunities outside four‑year colleges, improving job readiness and creating clearer pathways to technical careers.
Grants can fund incorporation of emerging technologies and provide technical assistance, improving the quality and relevance of training programs for learners and instructors.
Taxpayers may face increased federal spending to fund the new grant program and Task Force activities.
The statutory preference for priority applicants may reduce non‑priority applicants' chances (e.g., some states, local partnerships, small businesses) to receive grants, concentrating benefits.
Grant funds are prohibited from being used to lure businesses to relocate, which may limit certain regional economic development partnerships that rely on relocation incentives.
Introduced June 17, 2025 by Luz M. Rivas · Last progress June 17, 2025