Last Week in Congress (5/18–5/22/26)
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.
Summary of the week: 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.
· H.R. 8878 (Garcia, D-TX), to amend the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act to incentivize local solutions to homelessness (Financial Services).
· H.R. 8896 (Leger Fernandez, D-NM), to amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to provide enhanced student loan relief to educators (Education and Workforce).
· H.R. 8901 (Moolenaar, R-MI), to prohibit certain federally funded research collaborations with certain foreign entities (Science, Space, and Technology).
· H.R. 8961 (Carter, D-LA), to amend title V of the Public Health Service Act to provide for a public awareness campaign for schools regarding youth suicide prevention resources (Energy and Commerce).
· H.R. 8975 (Jayapal, D-WA), to amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to require that annual State report cards reflect the same race groups as the decennial census of population (Education and Workforce).
· H.R. 8978 (Mannion, D-NY), to amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to promote comprehensive campus mental health and suicide prevention plans (Education and Workforce).
· H.R. 8979 (Mannion, D-NY), to effectively staff the high-need public elementary schools and secondary schools of the United States with school-based mental health services providers (Education and Workforce).
· H.R. 8989 (Pettersen, D-CO), to amend the Public Health Service Act to direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to carry out demonstration programs to develop, implement, and evaluate evidence-based strategies to prevent suicide among children and adolescents (Energy and Commerce).
· S. 4567 (Luján, D-NM), to amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to provide enhanced student loan relief to educators (Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions).
· S. 4568 (Merkley, D-OR), to amend the definition of professional student in the Higher Education Act of 1965 (Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions).
· S. 4576 (Rosen, D-NV), to strengthen Federal efforts to counter antisemitism in the United States and protect the Jewish community (Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs).
· S. 4618 (Merkley, D-OR), to effectively staff the high-need public elementary schools and secondary schools of the United States with school-based mental health services providers (Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions).
· S. 4629 (Young, R-IN), to prohibit the provision of Federal funds to States and local governments and school districts for payment of obligations, to prohibit the Federal Reserve banks, the Department of the Treasury, and other Federal agencies from financially assisting State and local governments and school districts that have defaulted on their obligations (Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs).
· S. 4640 (Padilla, D-CA), to amend the Public Health Service Act to award grants to eligible crisis centers to provide follow-up services to individuals receiving suicide prevention and crisis intervention services, and to the Communications Act of 1934 to improve the accessibility of 9-8-8 (Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions).
· On May 20, the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions held a hearing to examine meeting the individual needs of all students, focusing on the roles of charter schools.
· On May 20, the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs held a hearing on a number of bills, including H.R. 1391, the Student Veteran Benefit Restoration Act of 2025.
· On May 21, the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions held a hearing to examine gender transition procedures on minors.
· On May 21, the House Committee on Education and Workforce held a markup of a number of bills, including H.R. 8705, the Civics and History Advancement to Restore Learning, Integrity, and Education (CHARLIE) Act. The bill was ordered reported, as amended.
· On May 21, the House Committee on Energy and Commerce held a markup of a number of bills, including H.R. 8209, the School-Based Health Centers Reauthorization Act of 2026. The bill was ordered reported, without amendment.
· On May 19, the Senate reported S. 3966, to prohibit the enforcement of certain contractual clauses that restrict disclosure of sexual abuse of minors, and S. 4394, to amend the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to improve the COPS program with respect to training command-level personnel, with an amendment in the nature of a substitute.