HR 5000 Adopted in Committee – Cybersecurity Hiring

Yesterday the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee held a markup hearing that considered 12 bills, including HR 5000, the Cybersecurity Hiring Modernization Act. An amendment in the form of a substitute was offered by Rep Comer (R,KY). That alternative language was approved by a vote of 44 to 0. The bill will now be cleared to move to the floor of the House, probably under the suspension of the rules process. Bipartisan support is expected.

The bill would limit the ability of federal agencies to require minimum educational requirements in the hiring of personnel to fill cybersecurity positions in the competitive service. No funding is authorized in this legislation.

The substitute language included a minor change in the proposed language to be added to 5 USC 3308. It added a new subparagraph (C) to the proposed §3308(b)(2), requiring the Office of Personnel Management to post regular updates to the Federal Cyber Workforce Dashboard maintained on the Office’s website.

With the bill being favorably reported by the Committee, it is now cleared for consideration by the full House; technically the Committee Report is supposed to be published first. I would expect the bill to be taken up under the suspension of the rules process; limited debate, no floor amendments, and a super majority required for passage. A similar bill,  HR 4502, the Modernizing the Acquisition of Cybersecurity Experts Act, passed in the 118^th Congress by a vote of 394 to 1.

Review – HR 5000 Introduced – Cybersecurity Hiring

Back in August, Rep Mace (R,SC) introduced HR 5000, the Cybersecurity Hiring Modernization Act. The bill would limit the ability of federal agencies to require minimum educational requirements in the hiring of personnel to fill cybersecurity positions in the competitive service. No funding is authorized in this legislation.

Beyond a title change, HR 5000 is nearly identical to HR 4502, the Modernizing the Acquisition of Cybersecurity Experts Act, that was introduced by Mace in July 2023. The bill was amended and ordered favorably reported (without a written report) by the House Oversight and Accountability Committee in July of 2023. The bill was considered in the House under the suspension of the rules process in October of 2023 and passed it by a vote of 394 to 1. No action was taken on the legislation in the Senate. 

Moving Forward

Mace and her sole cosponsor, Rep Brown (D,OH) are both members of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee to which this bill was assigned for consideration. This means that there may be sufficient influence to see the bill considered in Committee. I would expect that, as with HR 4502, there will be strong bipartisan support for this bill in Committee and on the floor of the House.

 

For more information on the provisions of this bill, and a commentary on why this bill may be addressing a diminishing problem, see my article at CFSN Detailed Analysis - https://patrickcoyle.substack.com/p/hr-5000-introduced-cybersecurity - subscription required.

Review - Bills Introduced – 8-19-25

Yesterday, with the House and Senate meeting in pro forma session, there were 22 bills were introduced. One of those bills may receive additional coverage in this blog:

HR 5000 To amend title 5, United States Code, to limit the use of educational requirements or qualifications in evaluating candidates for certain cybersecurity positions in the competitive service, and for other purposes. Mace, Nancy [Rep.-R-SC-1]

 

For more information on these bills, including legislative history for similar bills in the 118^th, as well as a mention-in-passing about an airline cabin air protection bill, see my article at CFSN Detailed Analysis - https://patrickcoyle.substack.com/p/bills-introduced-8-19-25 - subscription required.