Connecting Small Businesses with Career and Technical Education Graduates Act of 2025

Enumerated powers · passes

Congress has authority under Article I, Section 8, Clause 3 (Commerce Clause) to regulate and support interstate commerce, including small business development. The Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. § 631 et seq.) provides a long-standing statutory basis for federal programs assisting small businesses. This bill merely directs existing federal centers to disseminate information, which is a permissible exercise of spending and commerce power.

Bill of Rights · passes

The bill imposes no restrictions on speech, religion, press, assembly, petition, arms, quartering, search and seizure, self-incrimination, due process, trial rights, jury rights, cruel and unusual punishment, or unenumerated rights. It is purely informational and voluntary in nature. No provision of the Bill of Rights is implicated.

Individual liberty · passes

The bill does not restrict any individual's control over their person, property, speech, labor, or belief. It imposes no mandates, penalties, or obligations on any person. Small businesses remain free to ignore the information provided. The government's action is purely facilitative and does not require any justification for restricting freedom.

Decentralization · passes

The bill passes all four questions of the decentralization test. (1) An individual or family could not independently connect all small businesses with CTE graduates nationwide without government coordination. (2) A local community could not replicate the federal network of Small Business Development Centers and Women's Business Centers. (3) A state could theoretically handle this, but the federal government already operates these centers under existing law, and this bill merely adds a modest informational duty to existing federal infrastructure. (4) The action does not consolidate decision-making upward beyond the minimum necessary; it uses existing federal centers to disseminate information that is inherently national in scope (connecting businesses across state lines with graduates). The Tenth Amendment is not violated because the bill operates within Congress's commerce and spending powers and does not commandeer state resources.

Due process and takings · passes

The bill does not deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process. It imposes no penalties, fines, or obligations. It does not take any private property for public use. No procedural or substantive due process concerns arise, and the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment is not implicated.