Military Spouse Hiring Act
Latest action. Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
Military Spouse Hiring Act
This bill allows employers to claim a tax credit for a percentage of qualified wages paid to an employee who is a military spouse by expanding the federal Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC) to add qualified military spouses as a targeted group. (The WOTC applies to employers who hire members of specific targeted groups, such as veterans, ex-felons, and long-term unemployment recipients, and is generally equal to a percentage of the wages paid to such individuals in the first year of employment, up to a maximum amount. Under current law, the wages must be paid before 2026.)
The bill defines a qualified military spouse as any individual who is certified by a state workforce agency as being (as of the hiring date) a spouse of a member of the Armed Forces.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in Senate" stage on March 13, 2025. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on March 13, 2025: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the Senate
- Passage by the House
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 118th Congress (2023-24), 274 of the 16,565 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 1.7 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
Timothy Kaine (D-VA) introduced it on March 13, 2025, and 39 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They come from both major parties: 17 Democrats, 20 Republicans, 2 independents.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on March 13, 2025, 593 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 593 days ago, on March 13, 2025.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 119th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2027 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- SenateIn committee, no floor vote yet
- HouseAwaits Senate passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers