# 119-hr-5442: Inspired to Serve Act of 2025 119-hr-5442, Inspired to Serve Act of 2025, is a 119th Congress bill sponsored by Rep. Panetta, Jimmy [D-CA-19] (D-CA); status in_committee; PRIA reads it as touching household money (as of 2026-04-21). - Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-5442 - 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-5442 - Congress: 119 - Title: Inspired to Serve Act of 2025 - Status: in_committee - Introduced: 2025-09-17 - Sponsor: Rep. Panetta, Jimmy [D-CA-19] (D-CA) - Cosponsors: 1 - Policy area: Labor and Employment - Touches household money: yes - Last recorded action: 2026-04-21 ## Summary **Expand civic education and national service.** This bill would create new grants and funds to boost civics teaching, hands-on service-learning in schools, and large-scale pathways into military, national, and public service. It centers teacher training, student service opportunities, and a new federal council and online platform to connect people to service roles. - Helps students and families: grants for K–12 and higher education would fund curricula, internships, service-learning, and measurable civics assessments — with special reserves for low‑income and high‑need schools. - Supports teachers and schools: funds for teacher professional development, classroom resources, and an annual Excellence in Civics Award program. - Expands pathways for young people and workers: creates a Service-Learning Fund with targets for millions of students, scales national service fellowships (ramping to at least 250,000 positions), and builds a Service Platform and Council to coordinate recruitment. *Authorizes at least $100,000,000 per year for the Civic Education Fund and $250,000,000 per year for the Service‑Learning Fund, and authorizes additional appropriations as necessary for other programs.* ## Cosponsors (1) - Rep. Bacon, Don [R-NE-2] (R-NE), 2025-09-17T00:00:00.000Z ## Provisions PRIA read - Bigger National Service Fund and Pay: benefit, high. The bill creates a Service-Learning Fund at $250 million a year to expand in-class service learning and run summer and semester service programs. Money is split (20% for public-school programs, 40% for summer-of-service, 40% for semester-of-service) and sets targets to reach 1,000,000 summer partic… - Bigger student awards and tax break: benefit, high. The national service education award will equal one year of in‑state public four‑year tuition, set by the CNCS CEO. That award and loans discharged under it are not taxable income for years after this law. The VA can receive these awards whether or not the person is a veteran. - Stronger mobilization and reserves: benefit, high. The law makes big changes to mobilization planning and the Selective Service. It creates an Individual Ready Reserve for Critical Skills, requires an annual DoD critical‑skills list, and forces regular mobilization exercises and a detailed DoD mobilization plan to Congress. - More K–12 and College Civics Help: benefit, high. The Education Department will run a new Civic Education Fund to pay for civics, applied civics, and service-learning in K–12 and higher education. At least half of teacher and program dollars must go to 'high-need' schools (schools with 30% or more students in poverty). States must add civics to th… - Pension credit for national service: benefit, medium. Service in programs like the National Civilian Community Corps, Youth Conservation Corps, and Public Lands Corps can count as creditable federal service for certain retirement calculations. Living allowances and stipends for that service also count for contribution rules. - Annual increases to service allowances: benefit, medium. CNCS must review living allowances for national service members each year and raise them as needed for inflation, cost of living, and local differences. Any increases above current levels depend on available Congressional funding. - More federal hires and student pathways: benefit, medium. The law clarifies Pathways and Recent Graduates appointment rules and allows agencies to convert participants into term or career jobs. Agencies can noncompetitively hire people OPM certifies finished internships within 12 months. It also revises student and recent graduate hiring caps and sets fed… - New council, platform, and recruiting tools: benefit, medium. The President will create a Council on Military, National, and Public Service to coordinate recruitment and strategy. OMB will build a public Service Platform that lists service opportunities. Agencies can run joint recruiting, marketing, and pilots, and must report budgets and progress to Congress. - New cyber hiring and training paths: benefit, medium. The law funds Cyber Institutes reporting and expansion and lets agencies use broader cyber hiring tools. It also allows pilots to create a Civilian Cybersecurity Reserve with temporary competitive‑service appointments for cleared cybersecurity experts. - More youth service and JROTC spots: benefit, medium. Federal leaders must work to double participation in key youth programs and plan to create at least 6,000 JROTC units by 2034. The Peace Corps may test some domestic volunteer projects. Agencies must report progress to Congress. - Federal health license portability: benefit, low. Federal health care workers who are credentialed at a federal facility and hold a current license can practice that profession anywhere in the U.S. as part of their federal duties. This helps federal telehealth and cross‑state practice. - Narrower veterans' hiring preference: cost, medium. The law tightens who counts as a preference eligible in federal hiring. Retirees are excluded unless disabled or below major rank. Veterans discharged over 10 years ago and some long‑time federal employees also lose preference. Preference now mainly breaks ties on ranked lists. - Shorter window for transferred awards: cost, low. If someone designates a transferred national service education award to a minor, the award must now be used within seven years. The seven‑year period starts when the designated person turns 18. The previous window was ten years. - Higher Senior Corps pay, tradeoffs: mixed, medium. Senior Corps volunteers will get a higher per-hour stipend set at 60% of the federal minimum wage. Grants can be multi-year (up to 3 years). If you accept the new stipend, you cannot also get the national service educational award or certain corps benefits. - Military Training Grants and Credentials Pilot: mixed, medium. Each military department can offer up to three years of tuition grants for technical training if you sign an enlistment contract and enter Delayed Entry. If you cannot or will not serve, you must repay the grant or serve in another federal service program unless a waiver applies. One military depar… - New Federal Hiring, Intern, and Benefits Rules: mixed, medium. The bill gives agencies more flexible hiring tools, new internships, and workforce pilots. It creates temporary and term appointment authorities, expands noncompetitive hiring for top performers and recent national service or Peace Corps alumni, and requires a Pathways Program and a Virtual Student… - New Public Service Academies and Scholarships: mixed, medium. The bill funds competitive grants for colleges to create public service academies and a Public Service Corps that offers 2–4 year scholarships. Some scholarships must go to Pell-eligible students and PSC scholarships must be at least the Pell maximum for the award year. Scholarship contracts requir… ## Related bills - 119-hr-6900: American Affordability Act of 2025 - 119-hr-4669: FEMA Act of 2025 - 119-hr-9237: Take Care of America’s Veterans Act - 119-hr-3077: Agriculture Resilience Act of 2025 - 119-hr-3151: SHIPS for America Act of 2025 - 119-hr-7973: Momnibus Act ## Sources - [119-hr-5442 on Congress.gov](https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/5442) ## Related - [119-hr-6900: American Affordability Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-6900) - [119-hr-4669: FEMA Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-4669) - [119-hr-9237: Take Care of America’s Veterans Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-9237) - [119-hr-3077: Agriculture Resilience Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-3077) - [119-hr-3151: SHIPS for America Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-3151) - [119-hr-7973: Momnibus Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-7973) - [All bills in Congress](https://policyrisk.com/legislation) Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-5442 (as of 2026-04-21).