Last Week in Congress (3/2–3/6/26)
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.
Online safety was a big theme in education-related discussions on the Hill last week. The Senate passed, by unanimous consent, S. 836, the Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act, to update online data privacy rules by blocking the collection of personal data from anyone under 17 without consent and limiting targeted advertising practices that could prove harmful to minors. Schools would be required to enter into agreements with education-related service providers, post notices about those agreements on their websites, and make any collected information available to parents for review. The House companion bill, H.R. 6291, was originally scheduled for markup this week, but was pulled citing “substantial progress” in staff-level negotiations toward a bipartisan agreement. These bill are part of large legislative packages that aim to update and improve online protections for children and teens, including changes to internet safety protocols in schools.
· H.R. 7755 (Barrett, R-MI), to direct the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to submit a report to Congress with respect to exempting any downpayment requirement for mortgage insurance offered by the Federal Housing Administration for first-time homebuyers who are first responders or school teachers (Financial Services).
· H.R. 7757 (Guthrie, R-KY), the Kids Internet and Digital Safety (KIDS) Act, to protect children and teens online, empower parents, and strengthen families (Energy and Commerce; Judiciary).
· H.R. 7781 (Vasquez, D-NM), to provide that employees of tribally controlled schools are eligible to receive a pension under the Federal Employees Retirement System and to participate in the Thrift Savings Plan (Oversight and Government Reform).
· H.R. 7789 (Finstad, R-MN), to authorize the creation of “Lending.gov” as a shared services platform to provide a single source of access to loans provided by Federal agencies, and modern technology to support effective management of Federal credit programs, in order to reduce costs, prevent fraud, increase the speed of origination, improve transparency, and improve access and customer experience (Oversight and Government Reform).
· H.R. 7794 (Kennedy, R-UT), to amend the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990 to provide transparency and accountability in the administration of Federal child care funds expended by the States (Education and Workforce).
· H.R. 7798 (Moore, D-WI), to amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to provide grants to hire and retain school social workers (Education and Workforce).
· H.R. 7799 (Moran, R-TX), to amend the Internal Revenue Code oof 1986 to provide that 501(c)(3) organizations are liable for the use of funding provided as a fiscal sponsor (Ways and Means).
· H.R. 7810 (Thompson, D-CA), to amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to set interest rates for Federal student loans made on or after July 1, 2026, at 2 percent (Education and Workforce).
· H.R. 7824 (Fischbach, R-MN), the Federal Funds Whistleblower Protection Extension Act, to extend whistleblower protections to individuals who disclose misuse of Federal funds administered by State and local officials (Oversight and Government Reform).
· H.R. 7826 (Foushee, D-NC), to amend the National Artificial Intelligence Initiative Act of 2020 to provide for a special allocation of certain awards of financial assistance to historically Black Colleges and Universities relating to national artificial intelligence research institutions (Science, Space, and Technology).
· H.R. 7855 (Velázquez, D-NY), to amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to expand access to school-wide arts and music programs (Education and Workforce).
· S. 3957 (Moran, R-KS), to support National Science Foundation education and professional development relating to artificial intelligence (Commerce, Science, and Transportation).
· S. 3980 (Blackburn, R-TN), to authorize the creation of a “Lending.gov” as a shared services platform to provide a single source of access to loans provided by Federal agencies, and modern technology to support effective management of Federal credit programs, in order to reduce costs, prevent fraud, increase the speed of origination, improve transparency, and improve access and customer experience (Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs).
· S. 3989 (Curtis, R-UT), to amend the Public Health Service Act to provide community-based training opportunities for medical students in rural areas and medically underserved communities (Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions).
· S. 3993 (Sheehy, R-MT), to amend title 38, United States Code, and title 10, United States Code, to eliminate those provisions relating to veterans educational assistance that disadvantage eligible individuals who choose to pursue programs of apprenticeship or other on-job training instead of a four-year college degree (Veterans’ Affairs).
· S. 3998 (Lee, R-UT), the Promoting Innovation and Offering the Needed Escape from Exhaustive Regulations (PIONEER) Act, to establish a regulatory sandbox program under which agencies may provide waivers of agency rules and guidance (Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs).
· S. 4018 (Booker, D-NJ), to amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to expand access to school-wide arts and music programs (Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions).
· On March 4, the House Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies, held a hearing entitled “Preparing for the Future: America’s Community Colleges.”
· On March 4, the House Committee on Education and Workforce, Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Development, held a hearing entitled “Building an AI-Ready America: Strengthening Employer-Led Training.”
· On March 4, the House Committee on Natural Resources, Subcommittee on Indian and Insular Affairs, held a hearing on three bills, including H.R. 6162, the “Albuquerque Indian School Act of 2025”, to transfer certain Federal land into trust for certain Indian Pueblos in the State of New Mexico.
· On March 4, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform held a full committee hearing entitled “Oversight of Fraud and Misuse of Federal Funds in Minnesota: Part II.”
· On March 5, the House Committee on Education and Workforce held a markup on H.R. 7720, the “Child Care Payment Integrity and Fraud Accountability Act”; H.R. 7721, the “Combating Regulatory Abuse, Closing Known Deficiencies, and Overseeing Waste Nationwide Act”; H.R. 7722, the “Child Care Integrity Monitoring Act”; H.R. 7723, the “Safeguarding Taxpayer Dollars in Child Care Act”; H.R. 7724, the “No Waivers for Fraud Act”; H.R. 7725, the “Stop Child Care Fraud Act”; H.R. 7677, the “Closing the Provider Fraud Gap Act”; and H.R. 7726, the “No Funds for Repeat Child Care Violations Act.”
· On March 5, the House Committee on Energy and Commerce held a markup on numerous bills, including: H.R. 7757, the “Kids Internet Digital Safety Act”; H.R. 2657, the “Sammy's Law”; and H.R. 3149, the “App Store Accountability Act.”
· On March 3, under suspension of rules, the House passed H.R. 6392, as amended, the Home School Graduation Recognition Act, 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.
· On March 4, under suspension of rules, the House passed H.R. 6472, as amended, the Territorial Student Access to Higher Education Act, to amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to provide for in-state tuition rates for certain residents of Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa, and the United States Virgin Islands.
· On March 5, the Senate passed S. 836, as amended, the Children and Teen’s Online Privacy Protection Act, to amend the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 to strengthen protections relating to the online collection, use, and disclosure of personal information of children and teens.