I 
118TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 5192 
To establish a grant program in the Department of Labor to assist unem-
ployed and under-employed workers to document the American experi-
ence. 
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 re-
ferred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce, and in addition 
to the Committee on House Administration, for a period to be subse-
quently 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 doc-
ument the American experience. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘21st Century Federal 
Writers’ Project Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
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(1) In 1935, during the Great Depression, 
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt established 
The Federal Writers’ Project of the New Deal Era. 
This program was organized to employ writers, edi-
tors, historians, researchers, journalists, librarians, 
broadcasters, photographers, and others to document 
American society. 
(2) The Federal Writers Project employed up to 
10,000 people between its founding in 1935 during 
the Great Depression and the publication of its first 
guides in 1943. 
(3) The original Federal Writers’ Project had 
many successes, such as— 
(A) the American Guide Series, which cov-
ered 48 States, 40 cities, 18 regions and terri-
tories, and countless counties, with John 
Steinbeck calling the Series, ‘‘the most com-
prehensive account of the United States ever 
got together, and nothing since has even ap-
proached it. It was compiled during the depres-
sion by the best writers in America’’; 
(B) creating opportunities for writers who 
went on to become some of the United States 
greatest authors, including Ralph Ellison, Rich-
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ard Wright, Saul Bellow, and Zora Neale 
Hurston; 
(C) developing the Slave Narrative Project, 
the largest project to document the experience 
of formerly enslaved people, as part of the oral 
history and photography project telling the 
story of 10,000 people of the United States; 
and 
(D) creating over 1,000 books and pam-
phlets covering local and regional histories, folk-
lore collections, humor, ethnic studies, and na-
ture studies. 
(4) Between late 2019 and May 2022, more 
than 360 newspapers closed and the country is on 
track to lose more than one-third of its total news-
papers by 2025. 
(5) Around 7 percent of America’s counties are 
without a local news outlet. 
(6) The original Federal Writers’ Project pro-
vided the opportunity to observe and document the 
Great Depression as part of a larger portrait of 
American society. The 21st Century Federal Writ-
ers’ Project will serve to update this portrait of 
American society in the 21st Century. 
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SEC. 3. DOL GRANT PROGRAM. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 
date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Labor, 
working through the Employment and Training Adminis-
tration, shall establish a grant program to provide eligible 
entities described in subsection (d) with funds to assist 
individuals who are unemployed or underemployed in 
order to document in writing and images the current state 
of the American experience. 
(b) INTERAGENCY WORKING GROUP.— 
(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established an 
interagency working group for the purpose of devel-
oping the program’s guidelines. 
(2) MEMBERS.—The interagency working group 
shall be composed of the following members: 
(A) The Secretary. 
(B) The Chair of the National Endowment 
for the Humanities. 
(C) The Librarian of Congress. 
(D) Experts in the field of journalism. 
(E) Any other experts the Secretary deter-
mines to be appropriate. 
(3) REPORTS.—The working group shall issue a 
report on the composition of the working group and 
how the program will be structured, how grant re-
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cipients are determined, and another report fol-
lowing disbursement on efficacy and lessons learned. 
(4) TERMINATION.—The working group shall 
terminate not later than 180 days after the date on 
which the final grant under this program is dis-
bursed. 
(c) GRANT FEATURES.—In administering the grant 
program under subsection (a), the Secretary shall deter-
mine— 
(1) the parameters of the grant program; and 
(2) the amount and duration of grant awards 
under the program, except that in no case may an 
individual grant awarded under the program for a 
fiscal year exceed an amount equal to 7.5 percent of 
the amounts appropriated under subsection (j) for 
such fiscal year. 
(d) ELIGIBLE ENTITIES.—To be eligible to receive a 
grant under this section, an entity shall submit an applica-
tion to the Secretary of Labor at such time and in such 
manner as the Secretary may require and be— 
(1) a nonprofit organization that has experience 
in writing, researching, collecting, curating, or dis-
seminating educational information; 
(2) a newsroom, which may be a nonprofit or 
for-profit entity; 
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(3) a public or nonprofit library; or 
(4) a communications labor organization or 
guild. 
(e) PREFERENCE FOR CERTAIN INDIVIDUALS.—In 
selecting individuals to receive funds, a grant recipient 
shall give preference to individuals who have experience 
or education in an occupation described in the Standard 
Occupational Classification for categories 25–000 and 27– 
000. 
(f) GEOGRAPHIC DIVERSITY.—In selecting the recipi-
ents for a grant under this section, the Secretary of Labor 
shall, to the extent practicable, ensure equitable geo-
graphic distribution, including urban and rural areas and 
Tribal lands. 
(g) REPOSITORY.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Labor shall 
establish a repository of works developed through 
the grant program, in which grant recipients submit 
completed works from subgrant recipients, give cred-
it to each writer or artist of the completed work, and 
make such works available to the public. 
(2) TIMING.—Not later than 90 days after re-
ceipt of a completed work under paragraph (1), the 
Secretary of Labor shall forward such work to the 
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Librarian of Congress to archive such material in 
accordance with subsection (g). 
(h) ARCHIVE.—The Librarian of Congress shall es-
tablish an archive program in the American Folklife Cen-
ter at the Library of Congress to collect the written and 
visual works collected by the Secretary under subsection 
(f) and make such works publicly available in a digital and 
print format, which format includes giving credit to each 
work’s writer or artist. 
(i) REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.— 
(1) GRANT RECIPIENT REPORTING.—The Sec-
retary of Labor shall develop reporting guidelines for 
grant recipients under this section to include, at a 
minimum, information regarding— 
(A) the amount of funds received by each 
grant 
recipient, 
the 
amount 
provided 
to 
subgrant recipients, and the number of projects 
completed; 
(B) the race, ethnicity, age, location in 
terms of urban or rural, and regional diversity 
of subgrant recipients; 
(C) the number of requests made to review 
the completed projects or works distributed 
(when available); and 
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