H.R. 1177 · 119th Congress

Improve and Enhance the Work Opportunity Tax Credit Act

Introduced on Feb 10, 2025 by Lloyd Smucker (R-PA-11). 17 cosponsors, 7 of them from another party. Latest action (Feb 10, 2025): Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means.

Stage
Introduced
Introduced
Feb 10, 2025
Cosponsors
17
7 from the other party
Policy area
Taxation
Open in the Congress explorerCongress.govAlert me

Progress

The furthest stage the measure reached. Simple and concurrent resolutions do not go to the President.

  1. Introduced
  2. 2Reported by committee
  3. 3Passed one chamber
  4. 4Passed both chambers
  5. 5Sent to the President
  6. 6Became law

Official title

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to improve and enhance the work opportunity tax credit, to encourage longer-service employment, and to modernize the credit to make it more effective as a hiring incentive for targeted workers, and for other purposes.

Summary

By the Congressional Research Service (Introduced in House, Feb 10, 2025). Public domain.

Improve and Enhance the Work Opportunity Tax Credit Act

This bill increases the work opportunity tax credit (WOTC) for wages paid during the first year of employment to certain employees. The bill also eliminates the maximum age limit applicable to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefit recipients for purposes of the WOTC.

Under current law, an employer generally may claim a WOTC in the amount of 40% of up to $6,000 (or of up to $24,000 for certain veterans, $3,000 for summer youth employees, and $10,000 for long-term family aid recipients) of qualified wages paid during the first year of employment to an employee who is a member of a targeted group. (Exceptions and limitations apply.)

The bill increases the WOTC to (1) 50% of up to $6,000 (or of up to $24,000 for certain veterans) of qualified first-year wages paid to an employee who is a member of a targeted group (other than a summer youth employee or recipient of long-term family aid), and (2) 50% of up to $12,000 (or of up to $48,000 for certain veterans) of qualified wages paid during the first year of employment to such employee if the employee works at least 400 hours during the year.

Finally, the bill eliminates the maximum age limit applicable to SNAP benefit recipients and, thus, allows an employer to claim the WOTC for qualified first-year wages paid to an employee who is at least 18 years old and receiving SNAP benefits for a certain period of time.

Sponsor and cosponsors

Cosponsors by party as of the day they signed on. Original cosponsors signed on the day of introduction.

Lloyd SmuckerR-PA-11Sponsor

Democrats · 7

Republicans · 10

Roll calls

Recorded votes on the measure. Most measures move by voice vote or unanimous consent, which record no individual positions.

No recorded roll call on this measure: it moved by voice vote or unanimous consent, or has not reached the floor.

History

Every action as published, oldest first. Roll calls link to how each member voted.

  1. Feb 10, 2025Introduced in House
  2. Feb 10, 2025Introduced in House
  3. Feb 10, 2025 · HouseReferred to the House Committee on Ways and Means.

Committees

Committees and subcommittees the measure was referred to.

Agencies in its committees' jurisdiction

Analisa's mapping of committee jurisdiction to federal agencies; the bill may touch others, or none of these.

Who lobbied on it

Organizations whose lobbying reports (LD-2) name this measure. Spending is what they reported for those quarters on all issues, not on this measure alone.

  1. AMERICAN SENIORS HOUSING ASSOCIATION6 reports
    $450K reported (all issues)
  2. AMERICAN TRUCKING ASSOCIATIONS INC.6 reports
    $4M reported (all issues)
  3. ARGENTUM6 reports
    $380K reported (all issues)
  4. ASSOCIATED GENERAL CONTRACTORS OF AMERICA6 reports
    $922.7K reported (all issues)
  5. EXPERIAN NORTH AMERICA, INC6 reports
    $2.3M reported (all issues)
  6. FOOD MARKETPLACE INC.6 reports
    $3M reported (all issues)
  7. ISSA6 reports
    $60K reported (all issues)
  8. Redwood Holdings, LLC fka Redwood Capital Investments6 reports
    $570K reported (all issues)
  9. Society for Human Resource Management6 reports
    $2M reported (all issues)Federal contractor: SOCIETY FOR HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENTAI match · 100%
  10. INTERNATIONAL FRANCHISE ASSOCIATION5 reports
    $2M reported (all issues)
  11. NATIONAL RESTAURANT ASSOCIATION5 reports
    $4.1M reported (all issues)Federal contractor: NATIONAL RESTAURANT ASSOCIATION EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION$2M in contracts, FY2026AI match · 93%
  12. PARALYZED VETERANS OF AMERICA5 reports
    $483.9K reported (all issues)
  13. Chamber of Commerce of the U.S.A.4 reports
    $68.3M reported (all issues)
  14. EQUIFAX INC.4 reports
    $1.9M reported (all issues)Federal contractor: EQUIFAX INFORMATION SERVICES LLC$1.3M in contracts, FY2026AI match · 100%
  15. FEDEX CORPORATION4 reports
    $12.9M reported (all issues)Federal contractor: FEDEX SUPPLY CHAIN DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM, INC.$407.8M in contracts, FY2026AI match · 100%
  16. Allegis, Redwood, Maxim Public Affairs, LLC3 reports
    $150K reported (all issues)
  17. SYSCO CORPORATION3 reports
    $465K reported (all issues)Federal contractor: SYSCO USA I, INC$1.3M in contracts, FY2026AI match · 100%
  18. MAXIMUS,INC.2 reports
    $1.2M reported (all issues)Federal contractor: MAXIMUS FEDERAL SERVICES, INC.$576.8M in contracts, FY2026AI match · 100%
  19. Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA)2 reports
    $100K reported (all issues)
  20. Critical Labor Coalition1 report
    $15K reported (all issues)
  21. NATIONAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES NETWORK1 report
    $47K reported (all issues)

Reports filed in 2025, 2026.

Sources and method

Every figure on this page traces to these records.

  • Bill status: bills and resolutions, sponsors, actions, subjects and CRS summaries (U.S. Government Publishing Office (GovInfo), from Congress.gov (Library of Congress))GovInfo Bill Status bulk data (Congress.gov; summaries by the Congressional Research Service) · data current to Oct 3, 2026 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: Public domain (U.S. Government work, 17 U.S.C. § 105)
  • Members of Congress, their terms, committees and identifiers (The @unitedstates project (from the Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress, the House and the Senate))unitedstates/congress-legislators: legislators, committees and current committee membership · data current to Oct 3, 2026 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: CC0 1.0 (public domain dedication)
  • House roll-call votes (Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives)Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives, roll-call vote records · data current to Oct 3, 2026 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: Public domain (U.S. Government work, 17 U.S.C. § 105)
  • Senate roll-call votes and DW-NOMINATE scores (Voteview (UCLA Department of Political Science))Lewis, Jeffrey B., Keith Poole, Howard Rosenthal, Adam Boche, Aaron Rudkin, and Luke Sonnet (2026). Voteview: Congressional Roll-Call Votes Database. https://voteview.com/ · data current to Oct 3, 2026 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: Free to use with the required citation
  • Lobbying disclosures (LD-1 registrations, LD-2 quarterly reports, LD-203 contribution reports) (Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives)Clerk of the House, Lobbying Disclosure Act filings (organizations only; lobbyists' names are not loaded) · data current to Oct 5, 2026 · loaded Oct 5, 2026 · license: Public domain (U.S. Government work, 17 U.S.C. § 105)
  • Positions are shown only where a roll call recorded them; voice votes and unanimous consent record none.
  • Money and votes are shown side by side; neither explains the other.