Democratic members of the House Homeland Security Committee said today they are pulling their support for legislation that aims to build the cybersecurity workforce, citing their opposition to widespread Federal employee layoffs being instituted by the Trump administration.
During a markup session today, committee members debated the merits of the Providing Individuals Various Opportunities for Technical Training to Build a Skills-Based Cyber Workforce Act of 2025 (Cyber PIVOTT Act), with Republicans stressing the importance of passing the legislation to bolster national security, and Democrats arguing that the bill would product little benefit in light of the Federal layoffs.
The Cyber PIVOTT Act, which was first introduced during the last Congress by committee Chairman Mark Green, R-Tenn., would create a cybersecurity training program to provide Federal scholarship support in exchange for two years of service with governments at all levels in cybersecurity roles.
Rep. Green had previously said that the legislation was a top priority for the new Congress, sentiments he echoed during his opening remarks during today’s markup when he called the legislation “a critical step to ensuring that we’re able to protect critical networks from cyber threats.”
However, the bill faced strong pushback from Democratic committee members, with committee ranking member Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., saying that while he supported the legislation when it was introduced last year, he could no longer do so in the current session of Congress. He called the measure “a bait and switch at best.”
“There is strong support on the Democratic side for expanding the cyber workforce and making community colleges more accessible for students,” said Rep. Thompson. “Democrats don’t want to trick community college students in need, thinking that there will be a Federal cyber job waiting for them after graduation, and that’s what this bill amounts to with Trump in office.”
Rep. Thompson’s comments referred to the Trump administration’s unrelenting campaign to cut the Federal workforce including through numerous executive orders and actions of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Since Trump took office, nearly 100,000 Federal employees have either resigned or been fired from their positions – particularly probationary Federal workers who have had only one or two years of experience with the Federal government.
“The goal of these efforts have just been to bully Federal workers out of their jobs … these policies have impacted cybersecurity workers as much as anyone else, making us more vulnerable to cyberattacks from China and other adversaries,” Rep. Thompson said.
“I cannot ask people to make a two-year commitment to government service when the federal government is under hiring freeze and when a participant would be arbitrarily fired by a 19-year-old Musk protégé,” he said.
Rep. Sylvester Turner, D-Texas, echoed similar concerns, noting that existing scholarship programs and other pathways to entering the Federal workforce have been rescinded under the new administration. He said he “generally” supports the legislation, but is opposed because the government is currently “moving in the wrong direction.”
“I think the worst thing we could do to this next generation and to those in community college would be to say one thing and do another,” said Rep. Turner. “I recognize that we’re 500,000 short [in the Federal cyber workforce] … we can’t do one thing, say one thing, and do another. That would be the worst portrayal to our students and to the next generation, and we have scholarship programs already in existence, but we’re not following through with them.”
Republicans largely pushed back against Democratic representatives’ arguments, with Rep. Michael Guest, R-Miss., arguing that while the Federal government is “bloated,” it would benefit from expanding its cyber workforce, and called that goal a “number one priority.”
“A no on this is incredibly disheartening, because it is the exact opposite of what we have been telling young people for years,” said Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, R-Pa. “So, you want to talk about saying one thing and doing another – voting against this legislation is voting against America’s future and America’s students.”
