Reauthorize Recovery-to-Work Grants Through 2030

Full Title:
CAREER Act of 2025

Summary#

This bill updates and extends parts of the CAREER Act that were originally included in the SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Act. It renews a grant program that links addiction treatment and recovery services with job training and reentry support, raises the authorized funding level, and extends a recovery housing pilot. The broad goal is to keep federal support for programs that help people with substance use disorders get treatment, stable housing, and work.

  • Main change: Reauthorizes and updates two existing CAREER Act programs through fiscal year 2030.
  • Funding: Raises the authorized grant amount from $5,000,000 per year (previously authorized for 2019–2023) to $12,000,000 per year for fiscal years 2026–2030.
  • Performance measures: Adds employment and earnings outcomes (referencing Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act metrics) as part of how grantees report results.
  • Data years updated: Where the law uses recent rates (overdose, unemployment, labor force participation) it replaces the earlier reference period (2013–2017) with 2018–2022.
  • Transportation: Allows grantees to use up to 5% of grant funds to provide transportation for participants to work, job training, or treatment.
  • Reporting deadline: Moves a program report deadline to September 30, 2030, and adjusts some internal cross-references and formatting.

What is unclear: The bill authorizes funding levels but does not itself appropriate money. It does not include a fiscal note or detailed rules for how new reporting or the 5% transportation cap will be enforced.

What it means for you#

  • People in recovery or with substance use disorder: The program this bill continues funds services that combine treatment, recovery supports, housing assistance, and job training. This could mean more continuing federal support for local programs that help people enter or return to the workforce.
  • Workers and job trainees: The bill emphasizes tracking employment and earnings outcomes, so programs may focus more on job placement, retention, and measurable work benefits.
  • People needing transportation: Grantees may use up to 5% of grant funds to give rides or pay for transit so participants can attend work, training, or treatment appointments.
  • Service providers and nonprofits: Eligible entities can apply for grants under the extended program. They may face new reporting requirements tied to employment outcomes and limits on allowable activities outside the listed program purposes.
  • Recovery housing programs: The recovery housing pilot is extended through 2030 and stays tied to updated data-based criteria (overdose, unemployment, labor force participation rates for 2018–2022).
  • Federal agencies / grant administrators: The bill changes some program rules, reporting dates, and allowable uses of funds. Grant administrators will need to update guidance, application materials, and monitoring to reflect the new authorization and the 5% transportation cap.
  • Taxpayers: The bill authorizes higher annual funding levels for these programs (see Expenses). Authorization does not by itself spend money; Congress must appropriate funds separately.

Expenses#

Estimated public cost: The bill authorizes $12,000,000 per year for fiscal years 2026–2030; previously the statute authorized $5,000,000 per year for fiscal years 2019–2023.

  • The bill changes the authorized funding level (an increase from $5 million to $12 million per year), but an appropriation would be needed to actually release funds.
  • Grantees may use up to 5% of grant dollars for participant transportation; this reduces the share available for other services within each grant.
  • The bill does not include a fiscal note or a government cost estimate in the provided text. No publicly available information on projected total federal outlays, administrative costs, or savings beyond the authorization figures is included in the bill text supplied.

Proponents' View#

  • The bill appears intended to keep federal support for programs that link addiction treatment and recovery with employment and reentry services.
  • Updating the data years to 2018–2022 makes program targeting reflect more recent trends in overdose deaths, unemployment, and labor force participation.
  • Increasing the authorized funding level could allow more or larger grants to communities running recovery-to-work programs.
  • Allowing limited use of funds for transportation could reduce a common barrier (lack of reliable transit) that prevents participants from getting to work, training, or treatment.
  • Adding employment and earnings outcomes to reporting could improve tracking of whether programs help participants find and keep work.

Opponents' View#

  • One concern is that the bill only changes authorization levels; it does not guarantee appropriations. The actual spending depends on future appropriations decisions.
  • The bill does not include a fiscal estimate or detailed cost analysis, so it is unclear how much the program will ultimately cost or how it will be funded.
  • The 5% cap on transportation may be seen as either too small to meet needs or as a restriction that limits flexibility; the bill does not explain how that percentage was chosen.
  • The bill refers to employment outcome measures by citation to another law; it is unclear exactly how those measures will be applied to this grant program and how consistent measurement across grantees will be ensured.
  • The bill does not add detailed new oversight or enforcement provisions, so questions may remain about how program performance and proper use of funds will be monitored.