Pathways to Prosperity Act

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Bill ID: 119/s/3401
Last Updated: April 21, 2026

Sponsored by

Sen. Marshall, Roger [R-KS]

ID: M001198

Follow the money

The bill

Pathways to Prosperity Act

S. 3401, 119th Congress — read as touching For-Profit Education & Student Loans.

The sponsor

Sen. Marshall, Roger [R-KS]

Every bill has someone who introduced it. That name is where the paper trail starts.

The money

$154,700 raised

24 itemised contributions to this sponsor, pulled from FEC filings.

The alignment

70% match to Project 2025

This bill's text tracks the "Department of Labor and Related Agencies" section, p. 630-632 of the Mandate for Leadership.

Bill's Journey to Becoming a Law

Track this bill's progress through the legislative process

Latest Action

Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. Hearings held.

March 18, 2026

Introduced

Committee Review

📍 Current Status

Next: The bill moves to the floor for full chamber debate and voting.

🗳️

Floor Action

✅

Passed Senate

🏛️

House Review

🎉

Passed Congress

🖊️

Presidential Action

⚖️

Became Law

📚 How does a bill become a law?

1. Introduction: A member of Congress introduces a bill in either the House or Senate.

2. Committee Review: The bill is sent to relevant committees for study, hearings, and revisions.

3. Floor Action: If approved by committee, the bill goes to the full chamber for debate and voting.

4. Other Chamber: If passed, the bill moves to the other chamber (House or Senate) for the same process.

5. Conference: If both chambers pass different versions, a conference committee reconciles the differences.

6. Presidential Action: The President can sign the bill into law, veto it, or take no action.

7. Became Law: If signed (or if Congress overrides a veto), the bill becomes law!

Bill Summary

Another exercise in futility, courtesy of our esteemed lawmakers. Let's dissect this mess, shall we?

**Main Purpose & Objectives:** The Pathways to Prosperity Act (S 3401) claims to establish, improve, or expand high-quality workforce development programs at community colleges. How quaint. The real purpose is to funnel more taxpayer dollars into the black hole of bureaucratic inefficiency, while pretending to address the skills gap in the labor market.

**Key Provisions & Changes to Existing Law:** The bill amends the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) by creating a new grant program for community colleges. The grants will be awarded on a competitive basis, because nothing says "merit-based" like a government-funded handout. The Secretary of Labor gets to reserve up to 2% of the funds for administrative costs, because who needs actual workforce development when you can pay bureaucrats to attend conferences?

**Affected Parties & Stakeholders:** Community colleges, employers in high-skill industries, and individuals seeking workforce development programs will be affected by this bill. But let's not forget the real stakeholders: the politicians who get to tout this as a "job creation" initiative, the lobbyists who pushed for this boondoggle, and the bureaucrats who'll administer it with all the efficiency of a sleepy sloth.

**Potential Impact & Implications:** This bill will likely achieve what most government programs do: create a new layer of bureaucratic red tape, waste taxpayer dollars on ineffective initiatives, and provide a false sense of security for those who think they're actually addressing the skills gap. Meanwhile, the real problems – lack of apprenticeships, inadequate vocational training, and a mismatch between education and industry needs – will remain unaddressed.

In short, this bill is a classic case of "throwing money at a problem" without actually solving it. It's a symptom of a deeper disease: the inability of our politicians to think critically about complex issues and their tendency to prioritize sound bites over substance. But hey, who needs actual solutions when you can just create more government programs?

Generated using Llama 3.1 70B (Dr. Haus personality)

💰 Campaign Finance Network

Sen. Marshall, Roger [R-KS]

Congress 119 • 2024 Election Cycle

Total Contributions
$154,700
19 donors
PACs
$9,500
Organizations
$0
Committees
$0
Individuals
$145,200
1
THE KROGER CO. POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE
2 transactions
$5,500
2
INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF FIRE FIGHTERS
1 transaction
$2,500
3
THE POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE OF THE FERTILIZER INSTITUTE
1 transaction
$1,500

No organization contributions found

No committee contributions found

1
BRACH, JEREMIAH
4 transactions
$26,400
2
ILLIG, MICHAEL
1 transaction
$13,200
3
MADAY, GREG
1 transaction
$13,200
4
DOWNING, BARRY L.
2 transactions
$13,200
5
ILLIG, BONNE
1 transaction
$6,600
6
ILLIG, AMY
1 transaction
$6,600
7
MADAY, LIZ
1 transaction
$6,600
8
MAXWELL, KORB II
1 transaction
$6,600
9
ILLIG, CLIFFORD
1 transaction
$6,600
10
PRENGER, JEANETTE
1 transaction
$6,600
11
O'BRATE, CECIL L.
1 transaction
$6,600
12
SPARKS, LANCE
1 transaction
$6,600
13
LINDSEY, RYAN
1 transaction
$6,600
14
LEFKOWITZ, JOEL
1 transaction
$6,600
15
SMILOWITZ, DOV
1 transaction
$6,600
16
MCKEE, JACK C.
1 transaction
$6,600

Cosponsors & Their Campaign Finance

This bill has 1 cosponsors. Below are their top campaign contributors.

Sen. Warnock, Raphael G. [D-GA]

ID: W000790

Top Contributors

10

1
JME GROUP
OrganizationSTONE MOUNTAIN, GA
$2,900
Jun 30, 2023
2
JME GROUP
OrganizationSTONE MOUNTAIN, GA
$2,900
Jul 18, 2024
3
PORTFOLIO ONE
OrganizationLOS ANGELES, CA
$1,250
Mar 17, 2023
4
MCKENNEY HOUSE LLC
OrganizationFORT WASHINGTON, MD
$1,000
Jun 30, 2023
5
WATKINS WATKINS & WATKINS LLC
OrganizationCARROLLTON, GA
$1,000
Feb 17, 2023
6
SCR CONSULTING LLC
OrganizationATLANTA, GA
$500
Feb 17, 2023
7
GIBSON, DAVID H.
IndividualDALLAS, TX
$26,750
Mar 31, 2023
8
ROBBINS, BONNIE
IndividualSEATTLE, WA
$12,118
Mar 31, 2023
9
ROBBINS, BONNIE
IndividualSEATTLE, WA
$12,118
Jul 18, 2024
10
KERR, WILLIAM G.
IndividualOKLAHOMA CITY, OK
$9,625
Mar 31, 2023

Donor Network - Sen. Marshall, Roger [R-KS]

PACs
Organizations
Individuals
Politicians

Hub layout: Politicians in center, donors arranged by type in rings around them.

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Showing 35 nodes and 27 connections (38 secondary connections hidden)

Total contributions: $161,750

Top Donors - Sen. Marshall, Roger [R-KS]

Showing top 19 donors by contribution amount

3 PACs16 Individuals

Industry Impact

Which industries are materially affected by specific provisions in this bill. 4 helped.

  • Section 2(e)(2)(B)(ii) requires grant recipients to provide access to course materials, technological devices, required equipment, and other supports necessary for participation and successful completion of workforce development programs, which benefits for-profit education providers that supply such materials and services.

  • Section 2(e)(3)(C) allows grant funds to be used to purchase, lease, or refurbish specialized equipment necessary to carry out workforce development programs, which benefits construction and engineering firms that supply and install such equipment.

  • Section 2(e)(3)(C) permits grant funds to be used for purchasing, leasing, or refurbishing specialized equipment, which could include semiconductor manufacturing or hardware tools used in training programs, benefiting semiconductor and hardware companies.

  • Section 2(e)(1)(F) encourages incorporation of virtual service delivery to facilitate technology-enabled learning, which could increase demand for AI and cloud infrastructure providers supporting online learning platforms.

Project 2025 Policy Matches

This bill shows semantic similarity to the following sections of the Project 2025 policy document.AI-enhanced analysis provides detailed alignment ratings.

Department of Labor and Related Agencies

Moderate
Vector: 64%
Pages: 630-632AI Enhanced

AI Analysis:

"The bill supports workforce development through community college grants, aligning with Project 2025's call for outcome-based evaluation of federal training programs, though it expands rather than streamlines or reassesses existing programs as urged in the policy."

Key themes:workforce developmentoutcome-based metricsWIOA reauthorizationfederal training programsskills-based hiring

— 597 — Department of Labor and Related Agencies Alternative View. While the federal government has a duty to promote economy and efficiency in federal hiring and contracting, and thus should base decisions on skills as opposed to degrees, it is not the federal government’s role to determine whether private employers may or may not include degree requirements in job descriptions and in their hiring decisions. The inappropriate reverence given to degree requirements is a byproduct of the federal government’s heavy subsidi- zation of BA degrees. Phasing down federal subsidies would be a better way to eliminate barriers to jobs for individuals without BA degrees. Federal Workforce Development Programs. Existing federally funded work- force development and training programs should be reassessed to ensure they are outcome-based and truly deliver value to taxpayers and job seekers. As of 2019, the federal government spent approximately $17 billion annually on 43 federal employment and training programs administered across nine federal agencies, many of which overlap with at least one other program. Many of these programs track only inputs or individuals served, not outcomes or outputs, and do not swiftly identify bad-actor grantees. The federal government should identify underperforming programs and eliminate or redirect that funding to programs with strong outcome-based metrics. l Evaluate and streamline workforce development programs, ensuring evidence-based outcomes. In its reauthorization of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA),14 Congress should evaluate and streamline the existing workforce development programs to ensure there is no overlap or fragmentation between programs. Congress should also ensure strong evidence-based outcomes for each program and tie federal funding for those programs to the outcomes achieved. l Review employment and training programs to ensure outcome- based metrics. DOL and other federal agencies with jurisdiction over employment and training programs should review their programs and utilize all available tools and authority to ensure these programs contain strong outcome-based metrics. To the extent that agencies have this authority, they should reevaluate funding for programs that do not meet those evidence-based and outcomes-based requirements. Finally, strong internal policies should be implemented to ensure bad-actor grantees are identified and sanctioned expeditiously. Federal Unemployment Insurance Program. In the post-pandemic land- scape, the federal government should restore the Unemployment Insurance (UI) program’s purpose with a particular focus on reestablishing program integrity and accountability. The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act15 — 598 — Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise unemployment programs were defrauded of hundreds of billions of dollars, includ- ing by state-sponsored hacking groups. Not all state agencies are yet through their backlogs of appeals and fraud cases; the recovery of lost funds has been minimal; and fraud has now spilled into the traditional UI programs. The CARES Act era drastically altered the entire UI ecosystem: The federal–state partnership shifted toward federal programs and funding, and the social insurance purpose of the program was disconnected as benefits were extended, expanded to more typically uncovered populations, and made exponentially larger. l Congress should enact bipartisan commonsense UI program reforms, including statutory authority for the Labor Office of Inspector General (OIG) to access all state UI records for the purposes of investigation and requiring state agencies to crossmatch applicants with the National Directory of New Hires. l Congress should also develop a framework (through commission of a congressional report to serve as a blueprint) of technical standards on broader tech topics like usability, state agency cybersecurity postures, data taxonomy standardization, and/or identity verification standards. l Congress should provide DOL with more reasonable enforcement tools for the UI system. Currently, DOL can either send a strongly worded letter or revoke the entire Federal Unemployment Tax Act (FUTA)16 tax credit, which would place an immediate 6 percent to 7 percent tax on all covered employers. l DOL should review all actual or planned procurements against the $2 billion (under the American Rescue Plan Act)17 for UI fraud detection, accessibility, and equity investments. These funds do not have appropriations timelines and have very minimal statutory descriptions of the intended purpose. DOL should also review and propose changes to improve state monitoring programs including developing evidence-based frameworks for evaluating the technical readiness and security postures of the state agencies; strengthen its relationship with the OIG and Government Accountability Office (GAO), and support continued development of fraud prosecution with DOJ, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and the financial services community; ensure administrative and IT funding is outcome-based; and gather and publish best practices from state officials, industry partners, and other vendors who deliver UI services.

Department of Labor and Related Agencies

Moderate
Vector: 64%
Pages: 630-632AI Enhanced

AI Analysis:

"The bill aligns with Project 2025's emphasis on outcome-based workforce development and streamlining programs under WIOA, but does not address the policy's critique of degree subsidies or federal overreach in hiring practices."

Key themes:workforce developmentWIOA reauthorizationoutcome-based metricsprogram evaluationcommunity college training

— 597 — Department of Labor and Related Agencies Alternative View. While the federal government has a duty to promote economy and efficiency in federal hiring and contracting, and thus should base decisions on skills as opposed to degrees, it is not the federal government’s role to determine whether private employers may or may not include degree requirements in job descriptions and in their hiring decisions. The inappropriate reverence given to degree requirements is a byproduct of the federal government’s heavy subsidi- zation of BA degrees. Phasing down federal subsidies would be a better way to eliminate barriers to jobs for individuals without BA degrees. Federal Workforce Development Programs. Existing federally funded work- force development and training programs should be reassessed to ensure they are outcome-based and truly deliver value to taxpayers and job seekers. As of 2019, the federal government spent approximately $17 billion annually on 43 federal employment and training programs administered across nine federal agencies, many of which overlap with at least one other program. Many of these programs track only inputs or individuals served, not outcomes or outputs, and do not swiftly identify bad-actor grantees. The federal government should identify underperforming programs and eliminate or redirect that funding to programs with strong outcome-based metrics. l Evaluate and streamline workforce development programs, ensuring evidence-based outcomes. In its reauthorization of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA),14 Congress should evaluate and streamline the existing workforce development programs to ensure there is no overlap or fragmentation between programs. Congress should also ensure strong evidence-based outcomes for each program and tie federal funding for those programs to the outcomes achieved. l Review employment and training programs to ensure outcome- based metrics. DOL and other federal agencies with jurisdiction over employment and training programs should review their programs and utilize all available tools and authority to ensure these programs contain strong outcome-based metrics. To the extent that agencies have this authority, they should reevaluate funding for programs that do not meet those evidence-based and outcomes-based requirements. Finally, strong internal policies should be implemented to ensure bad-actor grantees are identified and sanctioned expeditiously. Federal Unemployment Insurance Program. In the post-pandemic land- scape, the federal government should restore the Unemployment Insurance (UI) program’s purpose with a particular focus on reestablishing program integrity and accountability. The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act15

Department of Education

Weak
Vector: 63%
Pages: 383-385AI Enhanced

AI Analysis:

"The bill focuses on workforce development grants for community colleges, while the Project 2025 policy emphasizes K–12 school choice via tax credits, state opt-outs from federal education programs, and higher education accreditation reform—there is minimal thematic overlap."

Key themes:education reformfederal fundinginstitutional accountability

— 351 — Department of Education as the Educational Choice for Children Act. This bill would create a federal scholarship tax credit that would incentivize donors to contribute to nonprofit scholarship granting organizations (SGOs). Eligible families could then use that funding from the SGOs for their children’s education expenses including private school tuition, tutoring, and instructional materials. ADDITIONAL K–12 REFORMS Allowing States to Opt Out of Federal Education Programs. States should be able to opt out of federal education programs such as the Academic Partnerships Lead Us to Success (APLUS) Act. Much of the red tape and regulations that hinder local school districts are handed down from Washington. This regulatory burden far exceeds the federal government’s less than 10 percent financing share of K–12 education. In the most recent fiscal year (FY 2022), states and localities financed 93 percent of K–12 education costs, and the federal government just 7 percent. That 7 percent share should not allow the federal government to dictate state and local education policy. l To restore state and local control of education and reduce the bureaucratic and compliance burden, Congress should allow states to opt out of the dozens of federal K–12 education programs authorized under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, and instead allow states to put their share of federal funding toward any lawful education purpose under state law. This policy has been advanced over the years via a proposal known as the Academic Partnerships Lead Us to Success (APLUS) Act. HIGHER EDUCATION REFORM HEA: Accreditation Reform Congress established two primary responsibilities for the U.S. Department of Education in the HEA: 1) to ensure the “administrative capacity and financial responsibility” of colleges and universities that accept Title IV funds; and 2) to ensure the quality of those institutions. Congress did not endow the Department of Education with the authority to involve itself in academic quality issues relating to colleges and universities that participate in the Title IV student aid program; the HEA allows the agency only to recognize accreditors, which are then supposed to provide quality assurance measures. Unfortunately, the Biden Administration has followed closely in the footsteps of the Obama Administration by engaging in a politically motivated and incon- sistent administration of the accrediting agency recognition process. As a result, accreditors have transformed into de facto government agents. Despite claims by — 352 — Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise the department and accreditation agencies that accreditation is voluntary, the fact that Americans are denied access to an otherwise widely available entitle- ment benefit if the institution “elects” to not be accredited makes accreditation anything but voluntary. Today, accreditation determines whether Americans can access federal student aid benefits, transfer academic credits, enroll in higher-level degree programs, and even qualify for federal employment. Unnecessarily focused on schools in a specific geographic region, institutional accreditation reviews have also become wildly expensive audits by academic “peers” that stifle innovation and discourage new institutions of higher education. Of par- ticular concern are efforts by many accreditation agencies to leverage their Title IV (student loans and grants) gatekeeper roles to force institutions to adopt policies that have nothing to do with academic quality assurance and student outcomes. One egregious example of this is the extent to which accreditors have forced col- leges and universities, many of them faith-based institutions, to adopt diversity, equity, and inclusion policies that conflict with federal civil rights laws, state laws, and the institutional mission and culture of the schools. Perhaps more distress- ingly, accreditors, while professing support for academic freedom and campus free speech, have presided over a precipitous decline in both over the past decade. Despite maintaining criteria that demand such policies, accreditors have done nothing to dampen the illiberal chill that has swept across American campuses over the past decade. The current system is not working. A radical overhaul of the HEA’s accreditation requirements is thus in order. The next Administration should work with Congress to amend the HEA and should consider the following reforms: l Prohibit accreditation agencies from leveraging their Title IV gatekeeper role to mandate that educational institutions adopt diversity, equity, and inclusion policies. l Protect the sovereignty of states to decide governance and leadership issues for their state-supported colleges and universities by prohibiting accreditation agencies from intruding upon the governance of state-supported educational institutions. l Protect faith-based institutions by prohibiting accreditation agencies from: 1. Requiring standards and criteria that undermine the religious beliefs of, or require policies or conduct that conflict with, the religious mission or religious beliefs of the institution; and

Showing 3 of 5 policy matches

About These Correlations

Policy matches are calculated using a hybrid approach: initial candidates are found using semantic similarity between bill summaries and Project 2025 policy text, then an AI model (Llama 3.1 70B) provides detailed alignment ratings and analysis. Ratings range from 1 (minimal alignment) to 5 (very strong alignment). This analysis does not imply direct causation or intent.

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