Last week, Republican members of the House Education and Workforce Committee introduced the "Less Bureaucracy, Better Education" legislative package, a series of bills that would codify — and even expand — the administration's efforts to reorganize the Department of Education by transferring statutory responsibilities to other federal agencies and reducing the Department's role in administering federal education programs.

Last week, the House Appropriations Committee's Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government held an oversight hearing on the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Director Russell Vought faced questions about OMB's recently proposed rule, "Regulation for Federal Financial Assistance," which would amend the government-wide grant regulations at 2 CFR Part 200.

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.

On June 18, 2026, the Department of Justice's (DOJ’s) Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) issued a slip opinion titled Application of the Rehabilitation Act and Americans with Disabilities Act to State Institutionalization of Patients with Severe Mental Illness or Disabilities.‍ ‍

The opinion does not itself change the law. It supplies the executive branch's legal rationale for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and DOJ to rescind the integration regulations and provide a basis for retreating from prior enforcement positions, a prospect that matters acutely now that ED has announced partnerships under which HHS will take on an operational role in special education and rehabilitative services and DOJ will take on an operational role in civil rights enforcement.

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.

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.”

On June 4, the House Appropriations Committee released its FY2027 billfor 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.

On May 29, 2026, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) published a proposed rule that would make significant revisions to 2 CFR Part 200, Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards (commonly referred to as the Uniform Guidance).

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.

Last week, the Department of Justice announced a $1.776 billion Anti-Weaponization Fundto “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 billionin funding that was appropriated in February for federal education programs.

This week, Secretary McMahon appeared before the House Education and Workforce Committee to defend proposed budget cuts for FY2027. The Secretary championed efforts to dismantle the Department by shifting programs to other agencies, which House Democrats criticized the strategy, arguing it lacks required congressional approval.

On May 1, the Department published Reimagining and Improving Student Education – Federal Student Loan Program Final Regulations. The rules, which implement provisions of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, P.L. 119-21, and take effect on July 1, 2026, dramatically change certain aspects of the federal student loan program. One of the more controversial provisions of the regulations is the definition of “professional” and “graduate,” with the impact of categorization being significant disparities in new federal loan caps. Since P.L. 119-21 was passed last summer some members of Congress have been seeking to adjust those changes. So far, eight different bills have been introduced to either raise loan limits or shift the definition of “professional” to increase the number of students eligible for higher loan limits; two of those bills were introduced last week, but nothing has advanced yet.

On April 30, Sligo Law Group, the Chicago Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights, and Eimer Stahl LLP filed a motion for preliminary injunction in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois as the next step in an ongoing federal lawsuit on behalf of Afterschool for Children and Teens Now Illinois (ACT Now) and Metropolitan Family Services.

Last week, the Senate Appropriations Committee hosted Secretary McMahon to discuss the President’s FY2027 Budget Proposal. Secretary McMahon, facing bipartisan skepticism, defended her vision of educational renewal and returning education to the states. The House Appropriations Committee is scheduled to hold a markup of their FY2027 budget for Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies on June 5 (Subcommittee) and June 9 (Full Committee); the Chair and Ranking Member of the Senate Appropriations Committee released General Guidance on appropriations requests, and aims to complete markup of all 12 spending bills by the end of June.

Last week, Congress continued to hear testimony about the President’s FY2027 Budget Proposal. This Tuesday, the Senate Appropriations Committee, Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies, will review the budget request for the Department of Education and hear from Secretary McMahon. Expect questions related to the transfer of significant functions out of the Department, efforts to overhaul large swaths of federal student assistance programs, and continued concern about how and when funding (both title and discretionary) will reach states.

On Monday, April 20, 2026, the U.S. Department of Education issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) focused on “earnings accountability” that would expand federal oversight to nearly all Title IV-eligible programs and introduce new compliance obligations for institutions, and have immediate and material implications for institutional operations, program viability, and student disclosures. In short, the NPRM introduces a new earnings premium standard, impacts direct loan eligibility, includes an expansion of STATS reporting, contains a new administrative threshold capacity requirement, requires additional student disclosures, and contains limited opportunities for institutions to challenge the data the Department will use to make eligibility determinations.

Budget season is underway—House and Senate Budget and Appropriations committees began hearing testimony on the President's FY2027 budget request, with the House set to mark up its Labor, HHS, and Education spending bill on June 5 and 9. A hearing specifically on the Department of Education's budget has not yet been publicly scheduled.

While Congress remained in recess, the House Education and Workforce Committee advanced committee reports on seven bills amending the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990, introducing enhanced fraud prevention measures, new provider accountability requirements, and triennial state performance reviews. The reports position the bills for House floor consideration as part of a broader Republican push on child care oversight.

With Congress on Spring Break, the administration released its FY2027 Budget Proposal—which assumes continued dismantling of the Department through IAAs, consolidation or elimination of numerous discretionary grant programs, and the creation of a new "Make Education Great Again" (MEGA) block grant program. Congress rejected analogous proposals in FY2026, but the budget signals the administration's intent to press forward administratively even without legislative approval.

On March 19, 2026, the Department of Education announced an interagency agreement with the U.S. Department of Treasury to transfer all student loan functions—and potentially all FSA functions—under a loosely defined three-phase approach in which Treasury, not ED, will identify the "future state" of non-default loan servicing and assess the "programmatic and policy requirements" governing student aid eligibility. Many of the responsibilities identified in the IAA are specifically and exclusively assigned to ED by statute, and the agreement does not identify the legal authority under which ED may transfer them—raising significant concerns for borrowers and institutions already navigating an uncertain federal student loan landscape.