Last Week in Congress (2/2–2/6/26)
An update will be shared every week that Congress is in session. This will include a short summary of the past week in Congress, as well as a listing of all education-related bills introduced in the House and Senate, relevant Committee and Floor activity, and education-related hearings.
On February 4, the President enacted H.R. 7148, as amended, funding a number of Federal agencies, including the Department of Education, through FY2026. The spending deal includes approximately $79 billion in federal education funding for FY2026, and is largely seen as a Congressional rejection of the President’s budget proposal. However, the new appropriations law does not include significant new safeguards against the administration’s efforts to dismantle the Department of Education, leaving its future uncertain. In the meantime, Congress has until Tuesday, February 10, to negotiate further funding for the Department of Homeland Security.
· H.R. 7312 (Kim, R-CA), to establish a national task force to investigate and combat fraud involving Federal dollars (Oversight and Government Reform).
· H.R. 7314 (Magaziner, D-RI), the Advancing Commonsense Policies Act, that would, in part: increase availability and accessibility of registered apprenticeships for separating members of the Armed Forces (Title II); amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to treat student loan payments as elective deferrals for purposes of employer matching contributions (section 411); increase punishment for human trafficking in school zones (section 601); increase punishment for coercion and enticement in school zones (section 602); and establish a Commission to study the potential creation of a National Museum of Asian Pacific American History and Culture (Title VII) (Ways and Means; Veterans’ Affairs; Armed Services; Energy and Commerce; Transportation and Infrastructure; Financial Services; Education and Workforce; Oversight and Government Reform; Foreign Affairs; Agriculture; Natural Resources; Small Business; Science, Space, and Technology; Judiciary; Homeland Security; Intelligence (Permanent Select); House Administration; Rules; Ethics; Budget; Appropriations).
· Note: an identical bill was introduced as H.R. 7315 (Magaziner, D-RI), titled “Advancing Policy Priorities Act”.
· H.R. 7320 (Stauber, R-MN), to prohibit the provision of funding to the State of Minnesota until certain reporting requirements pertaining to voting are satisfied (House Administration).
· H.R. 7325 (Cole, R-OK), to establish the Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies in the United States (Education and Workforce; Natural Resources).
· H.R. 7327 (Foushee, D-NC), to require the Secretary of Education to establish a pilot program to award grants to eligible organizations to carry out activities related to book access (Education and Workforce).
· H.R. 7334 (Obernolte, R-CA), to establish a commission on robotics (Science, Space, and Technology; Energy and Commerce; Foreign Affairs; Education and Workforce).
· H.R. 7399 (Luna, R-FL), to prohibit users who are under age 13 from accessing social media platforms, to prohibit the use of personalized recommendation system on individuals under 17, and limit the use of social media in schools (Energy and Commerce).
· H.R. 7402 (Moore, R-NC), to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow distributions from qualified tuition programs for first home purchases (Ways and Means).
· S. 3756 (Kennedy, R-LA), to require the Bureau of the Census, in measuring poverty, to incorporate the distributional analysis of household income used by the Congressional Budget Office (Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs).
· S. 3757 (Durbin, D-IL), to amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to establish fair and consistent eligibility requirements for graduate medical schools operating outside the United States and Canada (Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions).
· S. 3761 (Grassley, R-IA), to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to exempt qualified student loan bonds from the volume cap and alternative minimum tax (Finance).
· S. 3770 (Gallego, D-AZ), to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to make new child payments, to provide for American Dream Accounts (Finance).
· S. 3777 (Reed, D-RI), to provide for the long-term improvement of public school facilities (Finance).
· S. 3783 (Padilla, D-CA), to amend the Public Health Service Act to direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services, acting through the Assistant Secretary for Mental Health and Substance Use, to establish a Mental and Behavioral Health Career Promotion Grant Program (Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions).
· S. 3784 (Collins, R-ME), to amend the Student Support and Academic Enrichment Grant program to promote career awareness in accounting as part of a well-rounded stem educational experience (Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions).
· On February 2, the House Rules Committee held a hearing on the Senate amendments to H.R. 7148, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2026. The Committee granted, by a record vote of 8–4, a rule providing for consideration of the Senate amendments. The rule makes in order a single motion offered by the chair of the Committee on Appropriations or his designee that the House concur in the Senate amendments to H.R. 7148. The rule waives all points of order against consideration of the Senate amendments and the motion. The rule provides that the Senate amendments and the motion shall be considered as read. The rule provides one hour of debate on the motion equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the Committee on Appropriations or their respective designees.
· On February 2, the House Committee on the Judiciary held a full markup of H.R. 1028, the Protection of Women in Olympic and Amateur Sports Act.
· On February 4, the House Committee on Education and Workforce, Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Development, held a hearing entitled “Runaway College Spending meets the Working Families Tax Cuts.”
· On February 4, the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Federal Courts, Oversight, Agency Action, and Federal Rights, concluded a hearing to examine fighting fraud in Minnesota and beyond.
· On February 2, the House passed H.R. 980, the Veterans Readiness and Employment Improvement Act, as amended, to amend title 38, United States Code, to make certain improvements to the provision of on-campus educational and vocational counseling by the Department of Veterans Affairs, by a 2/3 yea-and-nay vote of 402 yeas to 2 nays.
· On February 2, the House passed H.R. 1458, the Veterans Education and Technical Skills Opportunity Act, as amended, to amend title 38, United States Code, to modify the criteria for approval of certain independent study programs for purposes of the educational assistance programs of the Department of Veterans Affairs.
· On February 3, the House agreed to the Senate amendments to H.R. 7148, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2026, making further consolidated appropriations for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2026, by a yea-and-nay vote of 217 yeas to 214 nays.