Last Week in Congress (6/1–6/5/26) )
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 House Appropriations Committee released its FY2027 bill for the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Subcommittee. The bill would provide a discretionary total of $70.7 billion to the Department of Education, which is approximately 10% below the FY2026 enacted level. The bill would: increase funding by $60 million for charter schools, $5 million for Impact Aid, and $4 million for Indian Education. It would provide a slight increase to $15.5 billion for special education and $4.8 billion for rehabilitative services and increase funding to support students with disabilities at institutions like Gallaudet University. Numerous K-12 programs would face significant cuts under the House Appropriations Committee’s opening offer: it would cut $1.6 billion of annual Title I formula grants for low-income students, eliminate billions of formula dollars for teacher professional development and English-learner services, and cut funds for teacher training and community school initiatives. At the post-secondary level, the bill would provide much needed funding to address the Pell shortfall exacerbated by the introduction of Workforce Pell programs, but balances that cost by permanently eliminating subsidized federal student loans. The bill also includes language that would cut funding for K-12 schools and colleges that allow transgender girls to participate in women’s sports, or have school policies that require or allow schools to “withhold or conceal” information about students’ gender identity from their parents.
· H.R. 9097 (Huizenga, R-MI), to establish a new educational exchange program to strengthen manufacturing workforce education (Foreign Affairs).
· H.R. 9103 (Norman, R-SC), to prohibit Federal research agencies and recipients of Federal research grants from using a prohibited diversity, equity, or inclusion practice with respect to Federal research grants (Science, Space, and Technology).
· H.R. 9111 (Thanedar, D-MI), to amend title 11 of the United States Code to stop abusive student loan collection practices in bankruptcy cases (Judiciary).
· H.R. 9123 (Fallon, R-TX), to establish intelligence community funding restrictions on institutions of higher education that have a relationship with certain entities int eh People’s Republic of China (Intelligence (Permanent Select)).
· H.R. 9134 (Randall, D-WA), to amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to ensure that personally identifiable information provided in the Free Application for Federal Student Aid is not used for immigration enforcement (Education and Workforce).
· H.R. 9137 (Baumgartner, R-WA), the Protect College Sports Act of 2026, to protect the name, image, and likeness rights of, and provide protections for, student athletes, and to promote fair competition among intercollegiate athletics (Judiciary; Energy and Commerce; Education and Workforce).
· H.R. 9164 (Thompson, R-PA), to amend the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to require the Secretary of Agriculture to make grants to eligible entities to acquire and install milk storage-related equipment for use in elementary schools and secondary schools (Thompson).
· H.R. 9166 (Turner, R-OH), to amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to provide for the refinancing of certain Federal student loans (Education and Workforce).
· S. 4668 (Cruz, R-TX), to protect the name, image, and likeness rights of, and provide protections for, student athletes and to promote fair competition among intercollegiate athletics (Commerce, Science, and Transportation).
· S. 4676 (Markey, D-MA), 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 (Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions).
· S. 4689 (Cassidy, R-LA), to strengthen literacy outcomes for all students, to amend the comprehensive literacy State development grant program, and to ensure Federal accountability and investment in research, teacher preparation, and evidence-based instruction aligned with the science of reading (Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions).
· On June 2, the House filed a report on H.R. 7086, to support the creation and implementation of State policies, as well as the expansion of existing State policies, for improving the quality and affordability of charter school facilities and to authorize the provision of technical assistance to support the growth and expansion of high-quality charter schools, with an amendment (H. Rept. 119–672).
· On June 2, the House Committee on Rules held a hearing on a number of bills, including H.R. 7726, the “Stop Child Care Scams Act of 2026” and H.R. 7892, the “No Aid for Ghost Students Act of 2026”, which the Committee considered under closed rule. For both bills, the rule provided that, in lieu of the amendment in the nature of a substitute recommended by the House Committee on Education and Workforce now printed in the bill, an amendment in the nature of a substitute consisting of the text of Rules Committee Print 119-32 and 119-31, respectively, would be considered adopted.
· On June 3, the House filed a report on H. Res. 1333, providing for consideration of a number of bills, including: H.R. 7726, to amend the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990 to withhold funds from noncompliant States under such Act; H.R. 7892, 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; and H.R. 8872, to amend part A of title IV of the Social Security Act to target funds to low-income families, strengthen program integrity guardrails for State expenditure of funds, require measurement of improper payments, and establish goals for eliminating fraud and improper payments under the program of block grants to States for temporary assistance for needy families, and for other purposes (H. Rept. 119–676).
· On June 3, the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, held a hearing to examine gender transition procedures on minors.
· On June 3, the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation held a hearing to examine college sports, focusing on supporting student athletes and fair competition.
· On June 3, the House Committee on Education and Workforce, Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Development, held a hearing entitled “Building an AI-Ready America: Higher Education in the Age of AI.”
· On June 4, the House Appropriations Committee released its FY2027 bill for the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Subcommittee.
· On June 5, the House Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on labor, Health 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.