Last Week in Congress

On June 25, Representative Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR), along with 16 cosponsors, introduced H.Res. 1391, to Impeach Linda M. McMahon, Secretary of Education, for high crimes and misdemeanors. Specifically, the resolution finds that Secretary McMahon: (1) violated federal law by illegally transferring the operations of six offices under the Department of Education to other Federal agencies, fundamentally obstructing the ability of the Department to conduct statutory oversight and disperse Congressionally-appropriated funds; (2) knowingly and willfully made materially false statements during testimony before the United States Senate during hearings on February 13, 2025; (3) has breached the public trust by terminating approximately 2,000 employees at the Department, resulting in delayed disbursement of federal education funds.

Last Tuesday, the Department of Education announced four new interagency agreements (IAAs) that would, in part, move the functions and responsibilities of the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services to the Department of Health and Human Services, and move the Office for Civil Rights and Student Privacy Policy Office to the Department of Justice. These IAAs follow ten prior agreements transferring programs out of the Department.

Hill response to the prior transfers was one of vague disapproval and concern with no teeth. The March appropriations bill was accompanied by explanatory text expressing concern, but did nothing to prohibit these new transfers.

The Hill’s approach appears to be shifting. Rep. Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR) announced on Wednesday that she will introduce a resolution to impeach Secretary McMahon on claims that the Secretary violated her oath of office, made false and misleading statements to Congress, and illegally transferred multiple offices in the Department to other federal agencies without Congressional approval. Representative Bobby Scott (D-VA), ranking member of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, and Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), vice chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, both issued statements opposing the IAAs. During a Senate HELP Committee hearing on Wednesday, Senator Kaine introduced an amendment prohibiting the transfer of OSERS to HHS. While the amendment was withdrawn, Chairman Cassidy did public commitment to legislative action to push the administration to change course.

The Department’s timing of the announcement is interesting because it comes squarely in the middle of appropriations season, a time when legislators are already very focused on what is happening in executive branch agencies, and during a midterm year when the Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee is facing a tough bid for reelection, and the Chair of the Senate HELP Committee is on his way out with little interest in bending to the administration’s plans.

On June 8, lacking anything better to do, the Senate agreed to S.Res. 757, designating June 11 as “National Seersucker Day,” designating every subsequent Thursday through August as “Seersucker Thursday,” and designating June 2026 as “Seersucker Appreciation Month.” Still not the most embarrassing thing to happen in Washington this week.

While there’s been plenty of discussion about the House Appropriations Committee’s education funding bill advancing to the House floor this week, it’s worth remembering that the Senate still has to weigh in, and any final spending package will ultimately go through a conference process. The House proposal raises legitimate concerns for education stakeholders, but it remains one step in a much longer appropriations journey.

The House also moved several bills aimed at addressing fraud in federal programs, particularly student financial aid and federal grant funding. The measures would expand identity verification requirements, strengthen penalties for fraud schemes, increase data-sharing among agencies, and provide additional tools for detecting and preventing fraudulent applications. The legislation reflects growing bipartisan concern over organized fraud rings targeting federal aid programs and aligns with the Department of Education’s broader efforts over the past year to enhance FAFSA identity verification and fraud prevention controls. Whether these proposals strike the right balance between fraud prevention and administrative burden remains an open question, but Congress is clearly signaling that program integrity will remain a major focus heading into the next reauthorization and appropriations cycles.

On June 4, the House Appropriations Committee released its FY2027 bill for the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Subcommittee. The bill would provide a discretionary total of $70.7 billion to the Department of Education, which is approximately 10% below the FY2026 enacted level. The bill would: increase funding by $60 million for charter schools, $5 million for Impact Aid, and $4 million for Indian Education. It would provide a slight increase to $15.5 billion for special education and $4.8 billion for rehabilitative services and increase funding to support students with disabilities at institutions like Gallaudet University. Numerous K-12 programs would face significant cuts under the House Appropriations Committee’s opening offer: it would cut $1.6 billion of annual Title I formula grants for low-income students, eliminate billions of formula dollars for teacher professional development and English-learner services, and cut funds for teacher training and community school initiatives. At the post-secondary level, the bill would provide much needed funding to address the Pell shortfall exacerbated by the introduction of Workforce Pell programs, but balances that cost by permanently eliminating subsidized federal student loans. The bill also includes language that would cut funding for K-12 schools and colleges that allow transgender girls to participate in women’s sports, or have school policies that require or allow schools to “withhold or conceal” information about students’ gender identity from their parents.

Last week, the Senate was out of session and the House operated on a limited schedule. Despite the lighter legislative calendar, the House filed reports on two bills aimed at combating FAFSA fraud. These measures join a growing number of FAFSA-related anti-fraud proposals introduced in recent months, many of which align with the administration’s broader identity fraud prevention initiative announced in June 2025. They also come on the heels of the Department of Education’s release of its FAFSA Fraud Prevention Tool just one month ago, reflecting a continued focus on the issue across both Congress and the Department.

Last week, the Department of Justice announced a $1.776 billion Anti-Weaponization Fund to “provide a systematic process to hear and redress claims of others who suffered weaponization and lawfare.” The announcement came as Mark Lieberman at Education Week reported that OMB has not apportioned $2 billion in funding that was appropriated in February for federal education programs. The funding held back is $1.8 billion for 33 of the Department’s competitive grant programs, with the remainder appropriated to the Institute of Education Sciences. All of the grants and IES functions that may be impacted have been the subject of repeated proposed funding cuts or elimination by the White House.