Last Week in Congress (2/23–2/27/26)
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.
Last week, the President delivered a 1 hour and 47 minute State of the Union Address that largely ignored education. While he touched on parents’ rights and student privacy relating to gender identity and the First Lady’s efforts in the presidential AI challenge, absent was an education agenda for the coming year. In the meantime, members of Congress introduced bills on a number of subjects last week, including a package intended to increase scrutiny of child care block grants, and held hearings on career and technical education and AI in schools, and a markup of three education bills.
· H.R. 7655 (Yakym, R-IN), to amend section 477 of the Social Security Act to improve supports for expectant and parenting youth who have experienced foster care by strengthening coordination with Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Programs (Ways and Means).
· H.R. 7660 (McCormick, R-GA), to amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to expand the definition of a historically Black college or university to include schools established prior to November 8, 1965, so long as such schools meet all other required criteria (Education and Workforce).
· H.R. 7661 (Miller, R-IL), the Stop the Sexualization of Children Act, to amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to prohibit the use of funds provided under such Act to develop, implement, facilitate, host, or promote any program or activity for, or to provide or promote literature or other materials to, children under the age of 18 that includes sexually oriented material (Education and Workforce).
· H.R. 7671 (Bonamici, D-OR), to amend the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010 to establish the position of the Assistant Director and Student Loan Borrower Advocate of the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection, to provide a framework for the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection and the Department of Education to coordinate in providing assistance to and serving borrowers seeking to resolve complaints related to their private or Federal student loans (Education and Workforce; Financial Services; Ways and Means).
· H.R. 7676 (McClellan, D-VA), to amend the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act of 2006 to authorize States to develop directories of career and technical education programs of study and career pathways (Education and Workforce).
· H.R. 7689 (Davis, D-IL) to amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to provide basic and emergency supplemental living assistance grants under the student support services program (Education and Workforce).
· H.R. 7690 (Davis, D-IL), to amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to increase the maximum stipend amount provided under Upward Bound projects (Education and Workforce).
· H.R. 7691 (Frost, D-FL), to authorize the Secretary of Education to provide grants to local educational agencies to cover the costs of challenges to determinations not to discontinue the use of specific instructional materials, or the availability of specific school library materials, in public elementary and secondary schools (Education and Workforce).
· H.R. 7696 (Hernández, D-PR-At Large), to establish a grant program to provide awards to National Laboratories and institutions of higher education to develop secure artificial intelligence (AI) cyber-physical testbeds to simulate grid-scale cyberattacks (Homeland Security).
· H.R. 7720 (Messmer, R-IN), the Child Care Payment Integrity and Fraud Accountability Act, to amend the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990 to require States to account for fraudulent payments under such Act (Education and Workforce).
· H.R. 7721 (Grothman, R-WI), the Combating Regulatory Abuse, Closing Known Deficiencies, and Overseeing Waste Nationwide (CRACKDOWN) Act of 2026, to amend the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990 to implement an improper payment threshold under such Act (Education and Workforce).
· H.R. 7722 (Onder, R-MO), the Child Care Integrity Monitoring Act, to amend the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990 to require triennial comprehensive reviews of State performance under such Act (Education and Workforce).
· H.R. 7723 (Foxx, R-NC), the Safeguarding Taxpayer Dollars in Child Care Act, to amend the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990 to debar child care providers that committed fraud from receiving financial assistance under the Act (Education and Workforce).
· H.R. 7724 (Wilson, R-SC), the No Waivers for Fraud Act, to amend the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990 to sustain sanctions against noncompliant State under such Act (Education and Workforce).
· H.R. 7725 (Rulli, R-OH), the Stop Child Care Fraud Act, to amend the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990 to require States to disclose agency regulatory participation under such Act (Education and Workforce).
· H.R. 7726 (Miller, R-IL), the No Funds for Repeat Child Care Violations Act, to amend the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990 to withhold funds from noncompliant States under such Act (Education and Workforce).
· H.R. 7740 (Mfume, D-MD), to authorize the Director of the National Museum of African American History and Culture to support African American history education programs (House Administration).
· S. 3942 (Cruz, R-TX), to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide that 501(c)(3) organizations are liable for the use of funding provided as a fiscal sponsor (Finance).
· S. 3953 (Booker, D-NJ), to authorize the Director of the National Museum of African American History and Culture to support African American history education programs (Rules and Administration).
· On February 24, the House Committee on Education and Workforce, Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education, held a hearing entitled “Building an AI-Ready America: Teaching in the AI Age.”
· On February 24, the House Committee on Small Business held a hearing entitled “Career and Technical Education: Developing the Future of Main Street Success.”
· On February 26, the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, held a business meeting to consider, among other bills, S. 1602, to coordinate Federal research and development efforts focused on modernizing mathematics in STEM education through mathematical and statistical modeling, including data-driven and computational thinking, problem, project, and performance-based learning and assessment, interdisciplinary exploration, and career connections, S. 1558, to require a standard financial aid offer form, and S. 3747, to amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to recognize students who have completed secondary school education in a home school setting as high school graduates.