Last Week in Congress (6/8–6/12/26)
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 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.” Still not the most embarrassing thing to happen in Washington this week.
While there’s been plenty of discussion about the House Appropriations Committee’s education funding bill advancing to the House floor this week, it’s worth remembering that the Senate still has to weigh in, and any final spending package will ultimately go through a conference process. The House proposal raises legitimate concerns for education stakeholders, but it remains one step in a much longer appropriations journey.
The House also moved several bills aimed at addressing fraud in federal programs, particularly student financial aid and federal grant funding. The measures would expand identity verification requirements, strengthen penalties for fraud schemes, increase data-sharing among agencies, and provide additional tools for detecting and preventing fraudulent applications. The legislation reflects growing bipartisan concern over organized fraud rings targeting federal aid programs and aligns with the Department of Education’s broader efforts over the past year to enhance FAFSA identity verification and fraud prevention controls. Whether these proposals strike the right balance between fraud prevention and administrative burden remains an open question, but Congress is clearly signaling that program integrity will remain a major focus heading into the next reauthorization and appropriations cycles.
· H.R. 9177 (McClellan, D-VA), to amend the Research and Development, Competition, and Innovation Act to direct the Director of the National Science Foundation to carry out a mentorship demonstration program (Science, Space, and Technology).
· H.R. 9195 (McGarvey, D-KY), the Alice Cogswell and Anne Sullivan Macy Act, to amend the IDEA to promote and ensure delivery of high-quality special education and related services to children and youth who are blind or visually impaired, deaf, hard of hearing, deafdisabled, or deafblind through instructional methodologies meeting their unique language and learning needs, and to enhance accountability for the provision of such services (Education and Workforce).
· H.R. 9196 (McGarvey, D-KY), to promote and ensure the deliver of high-quality special education and related services to children and youth who are deafblind (Education and Workforce).
· H.R. 9203 (Stefanik, R-NY), to increase the transparency of colleges and universities in carrying out their civil rights responsibilities (Education and Workforce).
· H.R. 9204 (Subramanyam, D-VA), to authorize the Attorney General to make grants to support the development of safe firearm storage devices (Judiciary).
· H.R. 9205 (Subramanyam, D-VA), to expand the Gun Free School Zones Act(Judiciary).
· H.R. 9211 (Goldman, D-NY), to strengthen Federal efforts to counter antisemitism in the United States and protect the Jewish community (Education and Workforce; Judiciary; Homeland Security; Transportation and Infrastructure; Energy and Commerce).
· H.R. 9223 (Letlow, R-LA), to amend the Individuals with Disabilities Act to authorize the Secretary of Education to extend paperwork reduction act waivers (Education and Workforce).
· H.R. 9224 (Mackenzie, R-PA), to amend the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990 to reauthorize and update the Act (Education and Workforce; Financial Services).
· H.R. 9240 (Donalds, R-FL), to provide the Comptroller General of the United States access to State records and documents for the purposes of certain audits, investigations, and evaluations (Oversight and Government Reform).
· H.R. 9245 (Hayes, D-CT), to establish a grant program supporting teacher and school leader induction programs in public schools (Education and Workforce).
· H.R. 9251 (Morrison, D-MN), to amend the Public Health Service Act to provide funding for trained school personnel to administer drugs and devices for emergency treatment of known or suspected opioid overdose (Energy and Commerce).
· H.R. 9260 (Aderholt, R-AL), the Department of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2027 (Appropriations). This bill was passed, as amended, by the Appropriations Committee, and ordered reported and placed on the calendar.
· H.R. 9265 (Carson, D-IN), to amend the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to require participation in the summer EBT program as a condition of participating in the school lunch program (Education and Workforce).
· H.R. 9272 (Foster, D-IL), to amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to allow certain Federal Student loans to be transferred from a parent to a child (Education and Workforce).
· H.R. 9273 (Foushee, D-NC), to direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to require public institutions of higher education that receive grants under the Medical Student Education program to include training for medical students relating to menopause in the curriculums of such institutions (Energy and Commerce).
· H.R. 9287 (McGarvey, D-KY), to establish an independent Children’s Commission and position of Commissioner (Education and Workforce).
· H.R. 9289 (Moore, D-WI), to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to repeal the tax credit for contributions of individuals to scholarship granting organizations (Ways and Means).
· H.R. 9292 (Neguse, D-CO), to amend the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act to prohibit determinations of Federal disaster assistance, funding, or relief on the basis of political affiliation and to establish a response timeline for requests for major disaster declarations (Transportation and Infrastructure).
· H.R. 9300 (Stansbury, D-NM), to authorize the Secretary of Education to award grants to create evidence-based student success programs designed to increase participation, retention, and completion rates of high-needs students (Education and Workforce).
· H.R. 9302 (Steube, R-FL), to establish rules regarding eligibility of student athletes for intercollegiate athletics (Education and Workforce).
· S. 4730 (Hickenlooper, D-CO), to amend the National Agricultural Research, Extension, and Teaching Policy Act of 1977 to authorize capacity building grants for community college agriculture and natural resources programs (Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry).
· S. 4733 (Kaine, D-VA), to establish a grant program supporting teacher and school leader induction programs in public schools (Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions).
· S. 4736 (Hassan, D-NH), to amend the Older Americans Act of 1965 to provide additional opportunities for older individuals to volunteer at facilities that serve older individuals or individuals in younger generations (Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions).
· S. 4763 (Markey, D-MA), to establish an independent Children’s Commission and position of Commissioner (Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions).
· S. 4778 (Heinrich, D-NM), to authorize the Secretary of Education to award grants to create evidence-based student success programs designed to increase participation, retention, and completion rates of high-needs students (Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions).
· On June 8, the House Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on Labor, Heath and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies, held a markup on the Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill, FY2027. The bill was forwarded to the full Committee without amendment. On June 9, full Committee held a markup of the bill and approved it, as amended, by a vote of 34 to 28. The bill was ordered reported and the House filed a report on June 11 (H. Rept. 119–696).
· On June 8, the House Committee on Rule held a hearing on a number of fraud prevention bills, including H.R. 8312, the “Fraud Prevention and Accountability Act” and H.R. 8464, the “Stopping Fraudulent Payments Act.”
· On June 9, the House Committee on the Judiciary held a hearing entitled “The Southern Poverty Law Center: Manufacturing Hat, Part II,”
· On June 10, the House Committee on Education and Workforce held a hearing entitled “Breaking Trust: Attacks on Parental Rights, Inappropriate Content, and Legal Abuses in America’s Schools.”
· On June 10, the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources favorably reported a number of bills, including S. 332, to require a study on Holocaust education efforts of States, local educational agencies, and public elementary and secondary schools.
· On June 10, the House Committee on Administration held a hearing entitled “Preventing Fraudulent Donations: Transparency, Verification, and Accountability.”
· On June 8, the House, under suspended rules, passed a number of bills related to preventing fraud related to federal funds, including: H.R. 8463, as amended, the “Pre-Payment Fraud Prevention and Treasury Data Access Act,” to establish governmentwide requirements for pre-payment fraud prevention actions, to provide the U.S. Treasury appropriate data resources, to facilitate participation in governmentwide anti-fraud data sharing; H.R. 8466, as amended, the “Taxpayer Resources Used in Emergencies Accountability Act,” to require certain agencies to develop plans for internal control in the event of an emergency or crisis, by a 2/3 yea-and-nay vote of 384 yeas with none voting nay; H.R. 8107, as amended, the “Government Audit and Accountability of Federally Funded State-Administered Programs Act,” to require the establishment of a list identifying program areas and administrative practices presenting the greatest risk to the integrity of Federal funds administered by States and local governments.
· On June 10, the House passed a number of bills related to preventing fraud: H.R. 7892, the “No Aid for Ghost Students Act,” to amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to require to the Secretary of Education to use an identity fraud detection system to review each FAFSA to determine whether the FAFSA presents a reasonable suspicion of identity fraud, by a yea-and-nay vote of 249 yeas to 172 nays; H.R. 8312, the “Fraud Prevention and Accountability Act,” to establish fraud prevention and program integrity functions and data sharing authorities within the Department of Treasury and a permanent governmentwide Inspector General for Fraud, Accountability, and Recovery, by a yea-and-nay vote of 240 yeas to 181 nays; and H.R. 8464, the “Stop Fraudulent Payments Act,” to amend title 31, United States Code, to authorize pausing and segmenting payments, by a yea-and-nay vote of 218 yeas to 200 nays. The following measures were passed under suspended rules: H.R. 8467, amended, the “Zeroing Out Monetary Benefits Improperly Expended Act,” to reform the Payment Integrity Information Act of 2019 to ensure executive agencies focus on fraud prevention; and H.R. 8340, amended, the “Taxpayer Funds Oversight and Accountability Act,” to modify the governmentwide financial management plan.