# 119-s-1664: RESEARCHER Act

119-s-1664, RESEARCHER Act, is a 119th Congress bill sponsored by Sen. Padilla, Alex [D-CA] (D-CA); status introduced; PRIA reads it as touching household money (as of 2026-09-10).

- Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-1664
- As of: 2026-09-10
- Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts.

## Facts
- Bill: 119-s-1664
- Congress: 119
- Title: RESEARCHER Act
- Status: introduced
- Introduced: 2025-05-07
- Sponsor: Sen. Padilla, Alex [D-CA] (D-CA)
- Cosponsors: 5
- Policy area: Science, Technology, Communications
- Touches household money: yes
- Last recorded action: 2026-09-10

## Summary

**Reduce financial instability for graduate and postdoctoral researchers.** The bill would have the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) create consistent federal guidelines and require new data, studies, and oversight to encourage higher stipends and better support services for researchers.

## Cosponsors (5)

- Sen. Moran, Jerry [R-KS] (R-KS), 2025-05-07T00:00:00.000Z
- Sen. Schiff, Adam B. [D-CA] (D-CA), 2025-10-07T00:00:00.000Z
- Sen. Ossoff, Jon [D-GA] (D-GA), 2025-12-18T00:00:00.000Z
- Sen. Coons, Christopher A. [D-DE] (D-DE), 2026-02-12T00:00:00.000Z
- Sen. Shaheen, Jeanne [D-NH] (D-NH), 2026-05-12T00:00:00.000Z

## Provisions PRIA read

- Federal guidance for graduate and postdoc support: benefit, low. If enacted, the bill would require the OSTP Director to issue policy guidelines within 6 months to address financial instability for graduate researchers and postdocs. The guidelines would cover raising stipends (including location-based indexing), extra consideration for rural and EPSCoR states, a…
- More stipend data and reporting for researchers: benefit, low. If enacted, the bill would add clear definitions for "graduate researchers" and "postdoctoral researchers" so reporting and guidance cover them. It would require agencies to collect and report stipend amounts and measures of financial instability, broken down by demographics when possible. NSF woul…
- Study on grad and postdoc financial health: benefit, low. If enacted, NSF would contract with the National Academies to study financial instability among graduate researchers and postdocs. The study would, where practicable, look at the past 5 years of stipend levels compared to local costs for health care, housing, transportation, food, and family care i…

## Related bills

- 119-s-5066: Health Equity and Accountability Act of 2026
- 119-s-3990: PrEP Access and Coverage Act of 2026
- 119-s-1241: Sanctioning Russia Act of 2025
- 119-s-410: Love Lives On Act of 2025
- 119-s-237: Honoring Our Fallen Heroes Act of 2025
- 119-s-2903: Safe Step Act

## Sources
- [119-s-1664 on Congress.gov](https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/1664)

## Related
- [119-s-5066: Health Equity and Accountability Act of 2026](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-5066)
- [119-s-3990: PrEP Access and Coverage Act of 2026](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-3990)
- [119-s-1241: Sanctioning Russia Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-1241)
- [119-s-410: Love Lives On Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-410)
- [119-s-237: Honoring Our Fallen Heroes Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-237)
- [119-s-2903: Safe Step Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-2903)
- [All bills in Congress](https://policyrisk.com/legislation)

Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-1664 (as of 2026-09-10).