I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 5192 

To establish a grant program in the Department of Labor to assist unemployed and under-employed workers to document the American experience. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

AUGUST 11, 2023 

Mr. LIEU (for himself, Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ, Ms. NORTON, Mr. TONKO, 

Mr. POCAN, Ms. GARCIA of Texas, Ms. WILLIAMS of Georgia, Mr. 

SCHIFF, and Mr. KILMER) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce, and in addition 

to the Committee on House Administration, 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 BILL 

To establish a grant program in the Department of Labor 

to assist unemployed and under-employed workers to document the American experience. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘21st Century Federal 

5 Writers’ Project Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) In 1935, during the Great Depression, 

2 President Franklin Delano Roosevelt established 

3 The Federal Writers’ Project of the New Deal Era. 

4 This program was organized to employ writers, edi5 tors, historians, researchers, journalists, librarians, 

6 broadcasters, photographers, and others to document 

7 American society. 

8 (2) The Federal Writers Project employed up to 

9 10,000 people between its founding in 1935 during 

10 the Great Depression and the publication of its first 

11 guides in 1943. 

12 (3) The original Federal Writers’ Project had 

13 many successes, such as— 

14 (A) the American Guide Series, which cov15 ered 48 States, 40 cities, 18 regions and terri16 tories, and countless counties, with John 

17 Steinbeck calling the Series, ‘‘the most com18 prehensive account of the United States ever 

19 got together, and nothing since has even ap20 proached it. It was compiled during the depres21 sion by the best writers in America’’; 

22 (B) creating opportunities for writers who 

23 went on to become some of the United States 

24 greatest authors, including Ralph Ellison, RichVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:02 Aug 22, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5192.IH H5192

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1 ard Wright, Saul Bellow, and Zora Neale 

2 Hurston; 

3 (C) developing the Slave Narrative Project, 

4 the largest project to document the experience 

5 of formerly enslaved people, as part of the oral 

6 history and photography project telling the 

7 story of 10,000 people of the United States; 

8 and 

9 (D) creating over 1,000 books and pam10 phlets covering local and regional histories, folk11 lore collections, humor, ethnic studies, and na12 ture studies. 

13 (4) Between late 2019 and May 2022, more 

14 than 360 newspapers closed and the country is on 

15 track to lose more than one-third of its total news16 papers by 2025. 

17 (5) Around 7 percent of America’s counties are 

18 without a local news outlet. 

19 (6) The original Federal Writers’ Project pro20 vided the opportunity to observe and document the 

21 Great Depression as part of a larger portrait of 

22 American society. The 21st Century Federal Writ23 ers’ Project will serve to update this portrait of 

24 American society in the 21st Century. 


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1 SEC. 3. DOL GRANT PROGRAM. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 

3 date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Labor, 

4 working through the Employment and Training Adminis5 tration, shall establish a grant program to provide eligible 

6 entities described in subsection (d) with funds to assist 

7 individuals who are unemployed or underemployed in 

8 order to document in writing and images the current state 

9 of the American experience. 

10 (b) INTERAGENCY WORKING GROUP.— 

11 (1) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established an 

12 interagency working group for the purpose of devel13 oping the program’s guidelines. 

14 (2) MEMBERS.—The interagency working group 

15 shall be composed of the following members: 

16 (A) The Secretary. 

17 (B) The Chair of the National Endowment 

18 for the Humanities. 

19 (C) The Librarian of Congress. 

20 (D) Experts in the field of journalism. 

21 (E) Any other experts the Secretary deter22 mines to be appropriate. 

23 (3) REPORTS.—The working group shall issue a 

24 report on the composition of the working group and 

25 how the program will be structured, how grant reVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:02 Aug 22, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5192.IH H5192

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1 cipients are determined, and another report fol2 lowing disbursement on efficacy and lessons learned. 

3 (4) TERMINATION.—The working group shall 

4 terminate not later than 180 days after the date on 

5 which the final grant under this program is dis6 bursed. 

7 (c) GRANT FEATURES.—In administering the grant 

8 program under subsection (a), the Secretary shall deter9 mine— 

10 (1) the parameters of the grant program; and 

11 (2) the amount and duration of grant awards 

12 under the program, except that in no case may an 

13 individual grant awarded under the program for a 

14 fiscal year exceed an amount equal to 7.5 percent of 

15 the amounts appropriated under subsection (j) for 

16 such fiscal year. 

17 (d) ELIGIBLE ENTITIES.—To be eligible to receive a 

18 grant under this section, an entity shall submit an applica19 tion to the Secretary of Labor at such time and in such 

20 manner as the Secretary may require and be— 

21 (1) a nonprofit organization that has experience 

22 in writing, researching, collecting, curating, or dis23 seminating educational information; 

24 (2) a newsroom, which may be a nonprofit or 

25 for-profit entity; 


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1 (3) a public or nonprofit library; or 

2 (4) a communications labor organization or 

3 guild. 

4 (e) PREFERENCE FOR CERTAIN INDIVIDUALS.—In 

5 selecting individuals to receive funds, a grant recipient 

6 shall give preference to individuals who have experience 

7 or education in an occupation described in the Standard 

8 Occupational Classification for categories 25–000 and 27– 

9 000. 

10 (f) GEOGRAPHIC DIVERSITY.—In selecting the recipi11 ents for a grant under this section, the Secretary of Labor 

12 shall, to the extent practicable, ensure equitable geo13 graphic distribution, including urban and rural areas and 

14 Tribal lands. 

15 (g) REPOSITORY.— 

16 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Labor shall 

17 establish a repository of works developed through 

18 the grant program, in which grant recipients submit 

19 completed works from subgrant recipients, give cred20 it to each writer or artist of the completed work, and 

21 make such works available to the public. 

22 (2) TIMING.—Not later than 90 days after re23 ceipt of a completed work under paragraph (1), the 

24 Secretary of Labor shall forward such work to the 


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1 Librarian of Congress to archive such material in 

2 accordance with subsection (g). 

3 (h) ARCHIVE.—The Librarian of Congress shall es4 tablish an archive program in the American Folklife Cen5 ter at the Library of Congress to collect the written and 

6 visual works collected by the Secretary under subsection 

7 (f) and make such works publicly available in a digital and 

8 print format, which format includes giving credit to each 

9 work’s writer or artist. 

10 (i) REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.— 

11 (1) GRANT RECIPIENT REPORTING.—The Sec12 retary of Labor shall develop reporting guidelines for 

13 grant recipients under this section to include, at a 

14 minimum, information regarding— 

15 (A) the amount of funds received by each 

16 grant recipient, the amount provided to 

17 subgrant recipients, and the number of projects 

18 completed; 

19 (B) the race, ethnicity, age, location in 

20 terms of urban or rural, and regional diversity 

21 of subgrant recipients; 

22 (C) the number of requests made to review 

23 the completed projects or works distributed 

24 (when available); and 


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1 (D) such other data as the Secretary con2 siders important. 

3 (2) REPORTING TO CONGRESS.—Not less than 

4 once each year while the program under this section 

5 is in operation, the Secretary of Labor shall submit 

6 a report summarizing the data collected under para7 graph (1) to the Committees on Appropriations and 

8 Education and Labor of the House of Representa9 tives and the Committees on Appropriations and 

10 Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions of the Sen11 ate. 

12 (j) ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS.— 

13 (1) SECRETARY.—The Secretary of Labor may 

14 reserve 5 percent of the funds made available to 

15 carry out the program under this section for admin16 istrative costs. 

17 (2) ELIGIBLE ENTITIES.—An eligible entity 

18 that receives a grant under this section for a fiscal 

19 year may reserve not more than 10 percent of funds 

20 received for such year to administer its program 

21 under the grant. 

22 (k) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

23 authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

24 $60,000,000 for fiscal year 2024. 

Æ 


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