# 119-hr-5046: Restoring Merit in the Military Service Academies Act

119-hr-5046, Restoring Merit in the Military Service Academies 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 2026-04-21).

- Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-5046
- As of: 2026-04-21
- Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts.

## Facts
- Bill: 119-hr-5046
- Congress: 119
- Title: Restoring Merit in the Military Service Academies Act
- Status: introduced
- Introduced: 2025-08-26
- Sponsor: Rep. Mace, Nancy [R-SC-1] (R-SC)
- Cosponsors: 0
- Policy area: Armed Forces and National Security
- Touches household money: yes
- Last recorded action: 2026-04-21

## Summary

**This bill would shift service-academy admissions to a single, uniform merit system based on a standardized candidate composite score.** It would constrain subjective adjustments, ban consideration of race, sex, color, ethnicity, national origin, or religion, and add new transparency rules for how candidates are chosen. - Prospective applicants and families: Admissions would be determined by a candidate composite score that weights academics at not less than 60 percent and college entrance examination rank (CEER) at not less than 45 percent. Subjective components would count for no more than 10 percent and any subjective adjustment could change an unadjusted score by at most 10 percent. - Service Secretaries and the academies: Each academy would have a fixed annual slate of 300 alternates selected in order of composite score. The composite-score rules would apply to both primary appointments and additional appointments and would determine ranking and selection order. - Oversight and transparency: Each Service Secretary would file an annual report to the congressional defense committees with detailed admissions data. Reports must show low and high composite and CEER scores among appointees and non-selected nominees, waiver rationales, waiver outcomes, and four-year cadet outcome data.

## Provisions PRIA read

- No demographics in USAFA admissions: benefit, low. If enacted, the Air Force Academy could not consider your race, sex, color, ethnicity, national origin, or religion. This would apply when officials decide whom to admit.
- Merit rules for extra USAFA slots: mixed, low. This bill would change who can get extra Air Force Academy appointments. Only applicants who were eligible and competed for a nomination, but did not win one, would be considered. The same candidate composite score rules would apply to these extra slots.

## Related bills

- 119-hr-4706: Protecting Our Farms and Homes from China Act
- 119-hr-3756: FISH Act of 2025
- 119-hr-833: Educational Choice for Children Act of 2025
- 119-hr-5457: Strengthening Agency Management and Oversight of Software Assets Act
- 119-hr-9298: Stopping Harmful and Outrageous Torts Act
- 119-hr-740: Veterans’ ACCESS Act of 2025

## Sources
- [119-hr-5046 on Congress.gov](https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/5046)

## Related
- [119-hr-4706: Protecting Our Farms and Homes from China Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-4706)
- [119-hr-3756: FISH Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-3756)
- [119-hr-833: Educational Choice for Children Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-833)
- [119-hr-5457: Strengthening Agency Management and Oversight of Software Assets Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-5457)
- [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)
- [All bills in Congress](https://policyrisk.com/legislation)

Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-5046 (as of 2026-04-21).