Last Week in Congress (6/29–7/3/26)
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.
It seems that pork barrel politics may be back on the menu—just in time for the Fourth of July.
Last week, the House Appropriations Committee's Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government held an oversight hearing on the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Director Russell Vought faced questions about OMB's recently proposed rule, "Regulation for Federal Financial Assistance," which would amend the government-wide grant regulations at 2 CFR Part 200.
Among other changes, the proposal would expand agencies' authority to terminate grants deemed "inconsistent" with the Administration's priorities, restrict reimbursement of indirect costs, and shift final award decisions from independent peer reviewers to political appointees.
Taken together, these changes would inject greater political discretion and uncertainty into the federal grants process. They also create incentives for applicants to bypass the traditional competitive grant process and seek funding directly from Congress, potentially reviving the kind of earmark-driven politics that federal grant reforms were intended to curb.
· H.R. 9513 (García, D-IL), the Community Schools and Health Equity Act, to direct the Secretary of Education, in coordination with the Secretary of Health and Human Services, to carry out a grant program to support the integration of school-based health services into community schools (Education and Workforce; Energy and Commerce).
· H.R. 9553 (Landsman, D-OH), to require the Administrator of the Small Business Administration to submit to Congress a report on for-profit child care providers (Small Business).
· H.R. 9568 (Steube, R-FL), to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to establish name, image, and likeness investment accounts for student athletes (Ways and Means).
· H.R. 9580 (Harris, R-NC), to repeal the 90/10 rule as it pertains to proprietary schools under title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (Education and Workforce).
· H.R. 9586 (McGovern, D-MA), to deliver priority legislation (Ways and Means; Small Business; Science, Space, and Technology; Natural Resources; Agriculture; Transportation and Infrastructure; Energy and Commerce; Homeland Security; Armed Services; Foreign Affairs; Education and Workforce; Oversight and Government Reform; House Administration; Financial Services; Veterans’ Affairs; Intelligence (Permanent Select); Judiciary; Rules; Ethics; Budget; Appropriations).
· H.R. 9587 (McIver, D-NJ), to amend the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to eliminate certain requirements under the summer food service program for children (Education and Workforce).
· H.R. 9588 (Stauber, R-MN), to require certain State officials to report fraud involving Federal funds (Oversight and Government Reform).
The Senate was not in session last week
· On June 29, a report was filed for H.R. 7890, to amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to exclude certain instructional approaches from comprehensive literacy instruction, to prioritize certain funds to promote the use of evidence-based literacy instruction and supports aligned to the science of reading, and for other purposes, with an amendment (H. Rept. 119–717).
· On June 30, the House Appropriations Committee, Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government, held an oversight hearing on the Office of Management and Budget, hearing testimony from Russell Vought, Director of OMB.
· On June 30, the House Committee on Education and Workforce, Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education, held a hearing entitled “Field of Fees: Private Equity’s Role in the Commercialization of American Youth Sports.”
· On July 1, the House Committee on Judiciary held a markup of several bills, including H.R. 3100, to amend the National Child Protection Act of 1993 to ensure that businesses and organizations that work with vulnerable populations are able to request background checks for their contractors who work with those populations, as well as for individuals that the businesses or organizations license or certify to provide care for those populations.
· On July 1, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Task Force on Defending Constitutional Rights and Exposing Institutional Abuses, held a hearing entitled “Combating DEI in American Institutions.”
· On July 2, reports were filed for H.R. 7661, 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, and for other purposes, with an amendment (H. Rept. 119–727); H.R. 7894, to make improvements to the Harry S Truman Memorial Scholarship Act, and for other purposes, with an amendment (H. Rept. 119–728); and H.R. 7893, to amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to improve the process for the verification of social security numbers required to be provided to the Secretary of Education for Federal student aid, and for other purposes, with an amendment (H. Rept. 119–730).