Public Shipyard Workforce Protection Act of 2025

HR 6793 — Summary

Overview
- Title: To prohibit the use of funds authorized to be appropriated for the Department of Defense to carry out a hiring freeze, reduction in force, or hiring delay without cause at a public shipyard.
- Purpose: To ensure that funding provided to the Department of Defense cannot be used to implement hiring freezes, layoffs (reductions in force), or hiring delays at public (government-owned) shipyards without justification.
- Status: Introduced in the House of Representatives.
- Introduced/Date: December 17, 2025.
- Classification: Bill (legislation introduced in the House; not enacted).

Key Provisions (as described)
- Prohibition on funding actions: The bill would bar the use of DoD appropriations to implement:
- Hiring freezes for personnel at public shipyards.
- Reductions in force (layoffs) at public shipyards.
- Hiring delays (deliberate postponements of new hires) at public shipyards.
- Scope of target: The prohibitions apply specifically to hiring actions at public (government-owned) shipyards that would be funded under DoD appropriations.
- Condition/Without cause: The prohibitions are tied to actions taken “without cause,” meaning strategic or justified workforce reductions or pauses are not permitted if funded with DoD money under the bill’s terms.
- Limitation on use of funds: The bill would require DoD funds to be used in a manner that does not authorize the described hiring actions at public shipyards, effectively constraining management decisions about employment at these facilities.

Who is Affected
- Primary: Department of Defense leadership and personnel responsible for workforce management at public shipyards.
- Public shipyards: Government-owned shipyards that operate under DoD funding and oversight.
- Workers and potential hires at public shipyards: Staffing levels and hiring timelines would be protected from certain DoD funding-driven actions.
- Oversight bodies: Congress (via the relevant committees) would oversee compliance and potential enforcement.

Procedural and Timeline Aspects
- Initial action: The bill has been introduced in the House.
- Committee referrals: Referred to the Committee on Armed Services and, in addition, to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. The referral indicates consideration of provisions within the jurisdiction of each committee.
- Next steps (as typical for introduced bills): The committees would review, possibly amend, and vote on whether to report the bill to the full House for consideration. If reported, the full House would consider floor action; if passed, it would move to the Senate (and further legislative process) to become law.
- No enacted provisions or sunset dates are provided in the summary; details would appear in the bill text itself (e.g., definitions of “public shipyard,” enforcement mechanisms, penalties, or effective dates).

Notes
- The summary reflects the information available in the bill description and actions. Specific definitions, enforcement mechanisms, penalties, and effective dates would be clarified in the full text of HR 6793.