PlainBillCongress, translated.Legislation. Context. Public interest.Referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, and in addition to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
Congressional Research Service
No official summary is available in the imported record yet.
People & committees
Rep. Budzinski, Nikki [D-IL-13] · D–IL
Legislative record
A procedural vote is different from passage. Passage in one chamber does not establish enactment. Explore the glossary.
Referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, and in addition to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
Referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, and in addition to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Primary sources
Text links open the official source. We also preserved the text version used in the PlainBill explanation below.
No related bills are listed in this snapshot. This does not establish whether the proposal has appeared in earlier Congresses.
Source last updated: Jul 18, 2026. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
AI Conversation Starters
Choose a perspective, copy a prompt, and paste it into your preferred AI. Each prompt includes the bill version and available official source links, and asks for counterarguments as well as supporting evidence.
Analyze H.R.1662 as objectively as possible. Explain its main provisions, who would be affected, possible benefits and harms, implementation, exceptions, and uncertainties. Present the strongest arguments for and against it, and identify evidence needed to assess its public impact.
Examine H.R.1662 through a progressive lens, focusing on fairness, access, economic inequality, and effects on vulnerable communities. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and distinguish stated goals from demonstrated outcomes.
Examine H.R.1662 through a conservative lens, focusing on fiscal responsibility, institutional stability, federalism, and the scope of government. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and any provisions that challenge this perspective.
Examine H.R.1662 through a civil-liberties and limited-government lens. Consider individual rights, privacy, voluntary choice, accountability, and government power. Explain tradeoffs, possible safeguards, and the strongest counterarguments without assuming the proposal is beneficial or harmful.
PlainBill explanation
Based on the full Introduced in House · 2025-02-27 text. This explanation has not received human editorial review. This overview describes the proposal’s major provisions; it does not establish what its real-world effects would be.
The proposed LEAP Act would give employers a $1,500 tax credit for each qualifying apprentice above a threshold based on their previous apprentice staffing. Employers in certain industries would face additional eligibility requirements. The bill would also require federal officials to plan reductions in government printing costs, preserve essential printed documents for specified populations, and require publications to disclose printing costs. These are proposed changes, not evidence of enacted law.
This Act may be cited as the Leveraging and Energizing America’s Apprenticeship Programs Act or the LEAP Act.
the apprenticeship credit determined under this section for the taxable year is an amount equal to $1,500 for each of the apprenticeship employees of the employer that exceeds the applicable apprenticeship level
80 percent of the average number of such apprenticeship employees of the employer for the 3 taxable years preceding the taxable year for which the credit is being determined, rounded to the next lower whole number.
No credit may be allowed under this section with respect to an individual employed by an employer in any sector described in the North American Industry Classification System code beginning with 23 unless— (A) such individual is a pre-apprenticeship graduate currently enrolled in an apprenticeship program, and (B) such employer participates in or sponsors an apprenticeship program.
devise a strategy to reduce overall Government printing costs over the 10-year period beginning with fiscal year 2026, except that the Director shall ensure that essential printed documents prepared for social security recipients, Medicare beneficiaries, and other populations in areas with limited internet access or use continue to remain available
the collective cost of producing and printing all of the copies of the document
The proposed annual credit would equal $1,500 multiplied by the number of qualifying apprentices above the employer's threshold. That threshold would be 80% of the employer's average qualifying apprentice count over the preceding three tax years, rounded down. Employers with no apprentices during those three years would have a zero threshold.
For purposes of section 38, the apprenticeship credit determined under this section for the taxable year is an amount equal to $1,500 for each of the apprenticeship employees of the employer that exceeds the applicable apprenticeship level (as determined under subsection (d)) during such taxable year.
the applicable apprenticeship level shall be equal to the amount equal to 80 percent of the average number of such apprenticeship employees of the employer for the 3 taxable years preceding the taxable year for which the credit is being determined, rounded to the next lower whole number.
In the case of an employer which did not have any apprenticeship employees during any taxable year in the 3 taxable years preceding the taxable year for which the credit is being determined, the applicable apprenticeship level shall be equal to zero.
A qualifying apprentice would have to work in an occupation officially recognized for apprenticeship by the Department of Labor's Office of Apprenticeship and currently be enrolled in a registered apprenticeship program. The bill refers to a tax-code definition of a registered program without reproducing it.
The term apprenticeship employee means any employee who is— (A) employed by the employer in an officially recognized apprenticeable occupation, as determined by the Office of Apprenticeship of the Employment and Training Administration of the Department of Labor, and (B) currently enrolled in an apprenticeship program.
The term apprenticeship program means a registered apprenticeship program defined in section 3131(e)(3)(B).
The credit could be claimed for no more than two tax years for any one apprentice.
The apprenticeship credit shall not be allowed for more than 2 taxable years with respect to any apprenticeship employee.
For employers in industry sectors whose North American Industry Classification System codes begin with 23, the credit would generally be unavailable. An exception would apply when the employee has completed a qualifying pre-apprenticeship program and is currently enrolled in an apprenticeship program, and the employer participates in or sponsors an apprenticeship program.
No credit may be allowed under this section with respect to an individual employed by an employer in any sector described in the North American Industry Classification System code beginning with 23 unless— (A) such individual is a pre-apprenticeship graduate currently enrolled in an apprenticeship program, and (B) such employer participates in or sponsors an apprenticeship program.
the term pre-apprenticeship graduate means any individual who has completed a pre-apprenticeship program.
A qualifying pre-apprenticeship program would prepare people to enter apprenticeships and be carried out by a sponsor with a documented partnership with at least one apprenticeship sponsor. Its training and theoretical education would have to align with industry standards, receive annual review and approval from apprenticeship sponsors within that partnership, prepare participants with needed skills, and avoid displacing a paid employee.
the term pre-apprenticeship program means a program that— (A) is designed to prepare participants to enter an apprenticeship program, (B) is carried out by a sponsor that has a documented partnership with 1 or more sponsors of apprenticeship programs
Training (including a curriculum for the training) and theoretical education for participants that— (I) is aligned with industry standards related to an apprenticeship program and reviewed and approved annually by sponsors of the apprenticeship program within the documented partnership that will prepare participants by teaching the skills and competencies needed to enter 1 or more apprenticeship programs, and (II) does not displace a paid employee.
The pre-apprenticeship program would also need a formal agreement to help graduates enter an apprenticeship more easily or quickly. Entry would remain conditional on an available place and the graduate meeting the apprenticeship program's qualifications.
A formal agreement with a sponsor of an apprenticeship program that will facilitate or expedite entry of pre-apprenticeship graduates into the apprenticeship program, provided that a place in the apprenticeship program is available and that the pre-apprenticeship graduate meets the qualifications of such program.
Other tax credits allowed for the same employee under sections 45A, 51(a), and 1396(a) would be reduced by the amount of the apprenticeship credit allowed for that employee.
The amount of credit otherwise allowable under sections 45A, 51(a), and 1396(a) with respect to any employee shall be reduced by the credit allowed by this section with respect to such employee.
The bill would add the apprenticeship credit to the general business credit under section 38(b). It would also insert a reference to the new credit after the reference to section 45S(a) in section 280C(a), under a provision labeled “Denial of double benefit.” The supplied text does not reproduce section 280C(a), so the full operation of that amendment is not shown.
(b) Credit made part of general business credit Subsection (b) of section 38 of such Code is amended
by adding at the end the following new paragraph: (42) the apprenticeship credit determined under section 45BB(a).
(c) Denial of double benefit Subsection (a) of section 280C of such Code is amended by inserting 45BB(a), after 45S(a),.
The proposed credit would apply rules similar to those in tax-code sections 51(i)(1) and 51(k). Those rules are not reproduced in the supplied bill text, leaving their detailed application outside this evidence.
Rules similar to the rules of subsections (i)(1) and (k) of section 51 shall apply for purposes of this section.
The tax amendments would apply to people who begin apprenticeship programs after the bill becomes law. The bill supplies no fixed calendar date for that start.
The amendments made by this section shall apply to individuals commencing apprenticeship programs after the date of the enactment of this Act.
Within 90 days after enactment, the Office of Management and Budget director would have to coordinate with federal department and independent agency heads to identify publications that could move online and stop being printed. They would have to devise a printing-cost reduction strategy for the ten-year period beginning with fiscal year 2026. Essential printed documents for Social Security recipients, Medicare beneficiaries, and other populations in areas with limited internet access or use would have to remain available.
Not later than 90 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget shall coordinate with the heads of Federal departments and independent agencies to— (1) determine which Government publications could be available on Government websites and no longer printed and to devise a strategy to reduce overall Government printing costs over the 10-year period beginning with fiscal year 2026, except that the Director shall ensure that essential printed documents prepared for social security recipients, Medicare beneficiaries, and other populations in areas with limited internet access or use continue to remain available
The same 90-day requirement would include government-wide guidelines on employee printing. Guidelines would also require publicly distributed publications issued or paid for by the federal government to prominently list, near the beginning, the issuing body, number of copies printed, total production and printing cost, and publisher.
Not later than 90 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget shall coordinate with the heads of Federal departments and independent agencies to—
(2) establish government-wide Federal guidelines on employee printing; and (3) issue guidelines requiring every department, agency, commission, or office to list at a prominent place near the beginning of each publication distributed to the public and issued or paid for by the Federal Government— (A) the name of the issuing agency, department, commission, or office; (B) the total number of copies of the document printed; (C) the collective cost of producing and printing all of the copies of the document; and (D) the name of the entity publishing the document.
The supplied official-actions snapshot, updated July 18, 2026, records introduction in the House on February 27, 2025, and referral that day to the Ways and Means Committee and the Oversight and Government Reform Committee for provisions within their respective jurisdictions.
Source snapshot updated 2026-07-18T00:01:20Z.
2025-02-27: Introduced in House
2025-02-27: Referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, and in addition to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
A closer look
Reviewed version: Introduced in House · 2025-02-27. These findings describe provisions and who may benefit; they are not judgments of waste, corruption, or motive.
This review covers the supplied bill text. “None identified” does not rule out provisions in later versions or accompanying reports and disclosures.
Provisions outside the bill’s main subject, or policy changes attached to appropriations.
Findings to examine
Review of the complete supplied introduced text identified a possible unrelated provision under the subject-matter definition of a rider. This assessment does not establish how or when it was attached.
Section 3's government printing requirements appear unrelated to the bill's main apprenticeship tax-credit policy. They are a subject-matter rider candidate; the supplied history does not document their attachment through an amendment.
the apprenticeship credit determined under this section for the taxable year is an amount equal to $1,500 for each of the apprenticeship employees of the employer that exceeds the applicable apprenticeship level
determine which Government publications could be available on Government websites and no longer printed and to devise a strategy to reduce overall Government printing costs over the 10-year period beginning with fiscal year 2026
establish government-wide Federal guidelines on employee printing
Spending directed to particular recipients or places outside ordinary competitive or formula-based allocation.
None identified in the reviewed text
No congressionally directed spending for particular recipients or places was identified in the complete supplied introduced text. This conclusion is limited to that version and does not establish absence in other versions or accompanying materials; formal earmark disclosures and related materials are not supplied.
Narrow exceptions, exemptions, or preferential treatment that warrant a closer look.
Findings to examine
Review of the complete supplied introduced text identified a narrow eligibility exception. Classification identifies special treatment, not a judgment about its merits.
Within industry sectors whose classification codes begin with 23, employers participating in or sponsoring apprenticeship programs could qualify for the otherwise excluded credit for employees who completed pre-apprenticeship programs and are now enrolled in apprenticeships. This gives that defined group of employers an exception directly tied to the bill's apprenticeship policy.
No credit may be allowed under this section with respect to an individual employed by an employer in any sector described in the North American Industry Classification System code beginning with 23 unless— (A) such individual is a pre-apprenticeship graduate currently enrolled in an apprenticeship program, and (B) such employer participates in or sponsors an apprenticeship program.
the term pre-apprenticeship graduate means any individual who has completed a pre-apprenticeship program.
Full text preserved for this analysis. Legislative record snapshot: Jul 18, 2026. How PlainBill uses AI