I 
113TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 5250 
To use Federal purchasing power to create good jobs, rebuild the middle 
class, address income inequality, stimulate the economy, and to achieve 
other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 29, 2014 
Ms. NORTON introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform 
A BILL 
To use Federal purchasing power to create good jobs, rebuild 
the middle class, address income inequality, stimulate 
the economy, and to achieve other purposes. 
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 ‘‘Restore Opportunity, 
Strengthen, and Improve the Economy Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES. 
(a) FINDINGS.—The Congress of the United States 
finds the following: 
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(1) The disappearance of good jobs, the shrink-
ing of the middle class, and growing income inequal-
ity are the greatest domestic challenges confronting 
the Nation. 
(2) The United States Government is the larg-
est purchaser of goods and services in the Nation’s 
private-sector economy, spending over $1.5 trillion 
dollars annually at firms that employ a quarter of 
American workers. 
(3)(A) Federal purchasing power is currently 
creating millions of poverty-level jobs, subsidizing 
labor law-breakers, and funding ballooning executive 
compensation. 
(B) The Federal Government is the Nation’s 
leading creator of low-wage jobs in the private sec-
tor, funding more than 2,000,000 jobs paying under 
$12 per hour. 
(C) The Federal Government awards taxpayer 
dollars to a substantial number of firms that violate 
Federal labor, employment, and occupational safety 
laws. 
(D) Federal Government purchasing subsidizes 
the excessive salaries of private-sector executives 
who do business with the American people. 
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(4) When Federal purchasing power is used in 
such a manner, workers have less to spend on the 
necessities of life and are forced to rely on public as-
sistance. Lack of working purchasing power hurts 
job creation and undermines economic growth, ulti-
mately imposing significant costs on American tax-
payers. 
(5)(A) Federal purchasing power should be 
used to create good jobs, rebuild the middle class, 
and curb rising income inequality. 
(B) Federal purchasing power should be used 
to create good jobs for America. Good jobs allow 
workers and their families to live in dignity without 
relying on public assistance or private charity. Good 
jobs pay enough to provide for subsistence, health 
care, education, housing, and savings, as well as 
enough disposable income to allow workers to enjoy 
quality time off with their loved ones. 
(C) Federal purchasing power should be used to 
rebuild the middle class. A strong middle class stim-
ulates the economy by increasing consumer spending 
and job growth. 
(D) Federal purchasing power should be used 
to narrow the growing gulf between the richest one 
percent of the population and ordinary working fam-
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ilies that is threatening the survival of participatory 
democracy. 
(b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are the fol-
lowing: 
(1) To use Federal purchasing power to 
incentivize private-sector firms. 
(2) To create good jobs for America’s workers. 
(3) To rebuild America’s middle class. 
(4) To address America’s crisis of income in-
equality. 
(5) To invigorate the economy by increasing the 
purchasing power of working Americans. 
SEC. 3. GOOD JOBS MODEL EMPLOYER STANDARDS. 
For purposes of this Act, a Good Jobs Model Em-
ployer is one which meets the following standards: 
(1) Respects employees’ rights to bargain collec-
tively with their employers without being forced to 
take strike action to win better wages and working 
conditions. 
(2) Offers to each employee living wages, decent 
benefits including health care, paid leave for sickness 
and caregiving, and fair work schedules that are pre-
dictable and stable. 
(3) Affirmatively demonstrates an exemplary 
standard of compliance with workplace protection 
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laws, including laws governing labor relations, wages 
and hours, and health and safety, as well as other 
applicable labor laws. 
(4) Limits executive compensation to 50 times 
the median salary paid to the company’s workers. 
(5) Employs a workforce not less than 35 per-
cent of which reside within one or more Historically 
Underutilized Business Zones. 
(6) Subcontracts only with other Good Jobs 
Model Employers. 
SEC. 4. APPLICATION TO FEDERAL CONTRACTS AND AS-
SISTANCE. 
(a) ELIGIBILITY
FOR AWARD
OF PROCUREMENT 
CONTRACTS.—In the award of a contract for the acquisi-
tion of supplies or services, an executive agency may not 
award the contract to a source that is not a Good Jobs 
Model Employer, unless there is no offer from a source 
that is a Good Jobs Model Employer. 
(b) ELIGIBILITY FOR AWARD OF FINANCIAL AND 
NONFINANCIAL ASSISTANCE.—An executive agency may 
not provide other forms of financial or nonfinancial assist-
ance to entities that are not model employers when there 
is a similarly situated Good Jobs Model Employer that 
could receive the assistance, unless doing so would sub-
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