Sponsors (25)
Official title: To amend title 10, United States Code, to direct the Secretary of Labor to carry out a grant program to help certain members of the Armed Forces, veterans, and their spouses, obtain employment in the energy industry.
Introduced June 24, 2025 by Jennifer Kiggans · Last progress June 24, 2025
The bill directs sustained federal funding and employer incentives to help veterans and military spouses secure energy-sector jobs and build local workforce capacity, at the cost of taxpayer dollars, narrowed industry eligibility, and administrative compliance burdens.
Veterans, separating service members, and their spouses gain targeted hiring incentives that improve placement into energy-sector jobs and ease civilian transition.
Employers (including small businesses) can receive up to $10,000 per hired veteran to offset recruiting, training, licensure, relocation, and onboarding costs, lowering financial barriers to hiring.
The bill provides predictable funding (approximately $60 million per year for FY2026–2031) to scale placements, training, and program administration over multiple years.
Taxpayers fund roughly $60 million per year for six years, which could divert federal dollars from other programs or increase budgetary pressure.
Limiting eligible entities to energy-generation and critical-equipment firms narrows job pathways and may exclude veterans and spouses who could be placed in other industries.
Grant caps ($10,000 per hire, $500,000 per grantee) may be insufficient to cover high-cost training, licensure, or relocation for some energy jobs, limiting employer participation and placements.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Authorizes DOL grants to reimburse employers who hire veterans, transitioning servicemembers, or their spouses into energy-sector jobs, with priority categories and per-hire and per-grantee caps.
Creates a Department of Labor grant program that pays employers to hire veterans, servicemembers eligible for preseparation counseling, and their spouses into energy-industry jobs. Grants may reimburse hiring-related costs (training, certification, recruitment, relocation, admin) and give priority to certain high-need veterans and employers in qualified opportunity zones or small businesses. Sets program limits (up to $10,000 per hire, $500,000 per grantee per year), requires annual reporting and audits, and directs coordination with Defense and VA transition programs like TAP, SkillBridge, and Solid Start to align hiring and training pathways.