# 119-hr-5025: Restoring Merit in the Military Act

119-hr-5025, Restoring Merit in the Military Act, is a 119th Congress bill sponsored by Rep. Mace, Nancy [R-SC-1] (R-SC); status introduced; PRIA reads it as touching household money (as of 2026-06-25).

- Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-5025
- As of: 2026-06-25
- Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts.

## Facts
- Bill: 119-hr-5025
- Congress: 119
- Title: Restoring Merit in the Military Act
- Status: introduced
- Introduced: 2025-08-22
- Sponsor: Rep. Mace, Nancy [R-SC-1] (R-SC)
- Cosponsors: 1
- Policy area: Armed Forces and National Security
- Touches household money: yes
- Last recorded action: 2026-06-25

## Summary

**This bill would require the Department of Defense to base all military personnel decisions on _individual merit_.** It would bar consideration of race, ethnicity, or national origin in accessions, promotions, assignments, command selection, and military and civilian schooling selection and training. - Service members and applicants: Personnel actions from recruitment to command picks would be decided strictly by merit, fitness, capability, and performance rather than race, ethnicity, or national origin. - Combatant commanders and mission planners: A narrow exception would allow consideration of race, ethnicity, or national origin for specific unconventional overseas missions when the local operating environment makes those factors relevant. Any use of that exception must be approved by the relevant combatant commander. - Congress and DoD transparency: The Secretary of Defense would have to report to the House and Senate Armed Services Committees within 60 days after any such tasking, detailing mission location and duration, staffing and demographics that justified the tasking, the number of personnel involved, and their rank, position, race, ethnicity, and national origin.

## Cosponsors (1)

- Rep. Carter, Earl L. "Buddy" [R-GA-1] (R-GA), 2025-08-22T00:00:00.000Z

## Provisions PRIA read

- Military careers based only on merit: mixed, medium. If enacted, the Department of Defense would have to base military personnel decisions only on merit, fitness, capability, and performance. This would cover accessions, promotions, assignments, command selection, and military and civil schooling and training. The bill would bar considering a person’…

## Related bills

- 119-hr-3151: SHIPS for America Act of 2025
- 119-hr-4669: FEMA Act of 2025
- 119-hr-9298: Stopping Harmful and Outrageous Torts Act
- 119-hr-740: Veterans’ ACCESS Act of 2025
- 119-hr-21: Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act
- 119-hr-7332: Whale CHARTS Act of 2026

## Sources
- [119-hr-5025 on Congress.gov](https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/5025)

## Related
- [119-hr-3151: SHIPS for America Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-3151)
- [119-hr-4669: FEMA Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-4669)
- [119-hr-9298: Stopping Harmful and Outrageous Torts Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-9298)
- [119-hr-740: Veterans’ ACCESS Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-740)
- [119-hr-21: Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-21)
- [119-hr-7332: Whale CHARTS Act of 2026](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-7332)
- [All bills in Congress](https://policyrisk.com/legislation)

Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-5025 (as of 2026-06-25).