H.R. 2447 — New Collar Jobs Act of 2025

This section designates the Act as the "New Collar Jobs Act of 2025" and sets forth the table of contents.

This section states congressional findings concerning manufacturing output and employment trends, including a 21% increase in domestic factory output since June 2009 compared to a 5% increase in manufacturing employment (flat since late 2014); the emergence of new employment needs, including cybersecurity talent, from manufacturers' adoption of technologies such as robotics and distributed control systems; and a 250% spike in industrial automation and control system cyber-incidents from 2011 to 2015, requiring personnel with both industry and security technology knowledge.

This section establishes a new general business tax credit under new IRC §45BB equal to 50% of an employer's qualified employee cybersecurity education expenses paid or incurred during the taxable year, limited to $5,000 per employee. Qualified expenses are amounts paid or incurred for an employee to earn a certificate or degree at the undergraduate or graduate level or an industry-recognized certification relating to specialty areas and work roles listed in the NICE Cybersecurity Workforce Framework (NCWF) published by the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education (NICE) of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The provision applies rules similar to those in IRC §§51(i)(1) and (k), denies a double benefit under IRC §280C(a), and applies to individuals commencing apprenticeship programs after the date of enactment.

This section establishes a Federal Direct Loan repayment program for cybersecurity workers employed in economically distressed areas. The Secretary cancels the lesser of $25,000 or the outstanding principal and interest balance on eligible Federal Direct Loans not in default for a borrower who makes 36 consecutive monthly payments under an income-based repayment plan, a standard 10-year repayment plan (or equivalent), or an income-contingent repayment plan, while employed in a cybersecurity job (i.e., a National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education Cybersecurity Workforce Framework skill role or teaching such a role) located in an economically distressed area (i.e., meeting criteria under the Public Works and Economic Development Act of 1965) for at least 12 of those months and comprising no less than 60% of total work hours. Borrowers receiving a reduction under other specified loan forgiveness programs (e.g., subsection (m) or sections 428J, 428K, 428L, or 460) are ineligible for this benefit.

This section expresses the sense of Congress that the National Science Foundation should award not less than double the number of scholarships under the Federal Cyber Scholarship-for-Service Program (CyberCorps) in FY2026 and succeeding fiscal years compared to FY2024 numbers. The section further amends the program, which provides scholarships to cybersecurity students at higher education institutions (including community colleges) who must work in qualifying cybersecurity roles post-graduation, as follows: (1) adds cybersecurity course instructors to the targeted professionals; (2) specifies that post-award employment obligations may include teaching cybersecurity courses for skill roles defined in NIST's National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education (NICE) Cybersecurity Workforce Framework (Special Publication 800-181 or successor); and (3) eliminates priority placement requirements for recipients, which previously mandated not less than 70% placement in executive agencies, not more than 10% as cybersecurity educators at participating institutions, and not more than 20% in certain other positions.

This section expresses the sense of Congress that funding for the Information Technology and Cybersecurity Division of the National Science Foundation's Advanced Technological Education program—which supports technician training at community colleges and other institutions—for FY2026 be not less than 110% of the amount expended for that division in FY2024.

This section requires the head of an executive agency to award a five percent score increase to competitive proposals submitted by a qualified offeror in response to a solicitation for a contract valued in excess of $5,000,000. A qualified offeror is a business that has claimed the employee cybersecurity education credit under new IRC §45BB (as added by section 3) at least once within the three-year period preceding proposal submission. The requirement applies to solicitations issued on or after the date of enactment.