The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education approved legislation Tuesday night that would fund the three agencies in fiscal year (FY) 2026. This is only the first step for the bill, which will be considered by the full Appropriations Committee next week before it can head to the House floor.
The draft makes significant cuts to the federal agencies it funds, cutting the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services by 6 percent, the U.S. Department of Labor by 30 percent, and the U.S. Department of Education (ED) by 15 percent, in order to align with the House’s budget proposal.
While the proposal rejects the President’s request to block grant funding under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), it would make some significant changes to spending levels. It suggests rescinding $2.8 billion of already-enacted funding across programs that would otherwise be made available October 1st, $938 million of which would come from Title I of ESEA. It would make a cut of $3.7 billion, or 21 percent, to Title I-A for FY 2026 and would eliminate funding for Title II-A, Title III-A, Title I-C, Adult Education, State Assessments, Comprehensive Centers, and other programs. Child Care and Development Block Grants, Pell, TRIO, GEARUP, and ESEA 21st Century Community Learning Centers (CCLC) would be frozen, while Charter School, Individuals with Disabilities Education Act Part B, ESEA Title IV-A, and Perkins Career and Technical Education State grants would see small increases, as outlined in the table below.
(in thousands of dollars unless otherwise specified)
| Program | FY 2025 Final as allocated | FY 2026 President’s Proposal | FY 2026 Senate Proposal | FY 2026 House Proposal |
| ESEA Title I-A | $18,407 | $18,407 | $18,457 | $14,626 |
| ESEA Title I-C, Migrant Education | $376 | $0 | $376 | $0 |
| ESEA Title II-A, Supporting Effective Instruction |
$2,190 | $0 | $2,190 | $0 |
| ESEA Title III-A, English Language Acquisition | $890 | $0 | $890 | $0 |
| Title IV-A, SSAE | $1,380 | $0 | $1,380 | $1,385 |
| ESEA Title IV-B, 21stCCLC | $1,330 | $0 | $1,330 | $1,330 |
| IDEA Part B State Grants |
$14,214 | $14,891 | $14,264 | (not specified, but category increases 0.2% as a whole) |
| CTE State Grants | $1,440 | $1,440 | $1,440 | $1,465 |
| AEFLA | $715 | $0 | $715 |
$0 |
| Maximum Pell grant (in dollars) | $7,395 | $5,710 | $7,395 | $7,395 |
| Head Start | $12,272 | $12,272 | $12,357 | $12,272 |
Funding for operations at ED would be reduced or cut, with the House proposal suggesting no funding for the Institute of Education Sciences and a cut of 35 percent to the Office for Civil Rights at ED, along with a 30 percent overall reduction in funding for program administration.
While these proposed cuts are not unexpected, they do contrast with a bill from the Senate released before the August recess which would largely level-fund most of the same programs and include “strengthening” provisions to enforce funding allocation dates and the management of certain programs by ED rather than other agencies. Both the House and Senate versions would need to be reconciled before they can advance. Given these differences, it is becoming increasingly likely that Congress will have to pass a continuing resolution to keep the government open temporarily while final numbers are negotiated in order to avoid a shutdown when the new fiscal year begins on October 1st.
