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I for one would prefer that government projects set this kind of requirement. I don't want my government software implemented in C++. If they are the customer they should require that the projects do everything they can to eliminate bugs caused by memory unsafety. Using a Memory Safe language is one of the easiest ways to do so.

There actually was a mandate for government work in the past with Ada. This is not a mandate.

Even that mandate did not appear to fundamentally change the landscape beyond government work.

That’s just a customer with requirements.. like all customers.

But, on the other hand it’s not. The government is a virtual monopsony. One customer has unappealing requirements and you can choose not to serve them. The federal government saying don’t hire c devs will hurt c devs. C devs will be understandably dismayed by this.

But this differs from the above statement that specifically referred to "government-related business". The "business" part implies a contract but it doesn't mean all non-govt contracts need to follow suit.