# 119-s-2987: American Workforce Act

119-s-2987, American Workforce Act, is a 119th Congress bill sponsored by Sen. Cotton, Tom [R-AR] (R-AR); status introduced; PRIA reads it as touching household money (as of 2026-04-21).

- Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-2987
- As of: 2026-04-21
- Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts.

## Facts
- Bill: 119-s-2987
- Congress: 119
- Title: American Workforce Act
- Status: introduced
- Introduced: 2025-10-08
- Sponsor: Sen. Cotton, Tom [R-AR] (R-AR)
- Cosponsors: 0
- Policy area: Labor and Employment
- Touches household money: yes
- Last recorded action: 2026-04-21

## Summary

**This bill would create a federally run program to expand employer-led career training by funding and standardizing paid, on-the-job learning through** **federal-backed subsidies for employer-provided, paid, full-time workforce training**. It would place a Senate-confirmed Director inside the Economic Development Administration to run the program, set contract templates, collect and publish data, and enforce rules. - Workers and trainees: Positions must be paid and full-time. Trainees must be U.S. citizens with a high school diploma or equivalent and no bachelor’s degree, must be paid at least the higher of the federal or applicable state minimum wage, and the program sets wage floors tied to local median incomes including a not-less-than 80% county median benchmark. - Employers and training providers: Employers get subsidies that cover training costs only not wages. Subsidies can support a trainee for up to 3 years, contracts use a standardized template of 3 pages or less, the Director reviews contracts within 1 month with a 32-day approval presumption, and penalties include suspensions up to 5 years and fines up to prior two years of subsidy payments. - Transparency and oversight: The Director must publish project disclosures and recurring non-identifying metrics, produce 5- and 10-year reports to Congress, and the program sunsets within 11 years absent extension.

## Provisions PRIA read

- Employer-paid training and wages: mixed, medium. This bill would give employers a federal subsidy to pay training costs for full-time, paid workforce trainees. The subsidy could not be used to pay trainee wages. Employers would still have to pay at least the higher of the federal or state/local minimum wage, and trainee jobs would have to meet a…
- New workforce office and oversight: mixed, medium. This bill would create an American Workforce Division at Commerce and a Senate-confirmed Director to run the program. The Director would have to review and approve or disapprove proposed employer-trainee contracts within one month; a contract not disapproved by day 32 would be treated as approved.…

## Related bills

- 119-s-2342: Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2026
- 119-s-4615: Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2027
- 119-s-2142: GOLDEN DOME Act of 2025
- 119-s-1748: Kids Online Safety Act
- 119-s-2010: TERMS Act
- 119-s-292: Educational Choice for Children Act of 2025

## Sources
- [119-s-2987 on Congress.gov](https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/2987)

## Related
- [119-s-2342: Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2026](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-2342)
- [119-s-4615: Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2027](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-4615)
- [119-s-2142: GOLDEN DOME Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-2142)
- [119-s-1748: Kids Online Safety Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-1748)
- [119-s-2010: TERMS Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-2010)
- [119-s-292: Educational Choice for Children Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-292)
- [All bills in Congress](https://policyrisk.com/legislation)

Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-2987 (as of 2026-04-21).