By Kritika Agarwal
Congress is now back in session and has until the end of the month to avoid a government shutdown. Lawmakers are already discussing a short-term continuing resolution even as they continue advancing individual appropriations bills:
The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies advanced its FY26 spending bill last week along party lines. The bill provides $46.9 billion in base funding for the National Institutes of Health; this includes a $226 million allocation from the 21st Century Cures Act and represents an overall increase of less than 1% from FY25 funding levels. Notably, the House bill appears to reject the Trump administration’s proposal to restructure the agency and consolidate its 27 institutes and centers.
In comparison, the Senate Labor-HHS-Education bill includes $47.2 billion in base funding for the NIH, a $400 million increase from the FY25 enacted levels and a significant increase from the president’s budget request, which proposed only $27.5 billion for the agency.
The House’s FY26 Labor-HHS-Education bill also includes a total of $66.7 billion for the Department of Education, a 15% cut from FY25. The bill includes several cuts to federal financial aid programs for students. It cuts the Federal Work-Study program by $451 million compared to FY25 and eliminates Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants (FSEOG or SEOG), which support students with pressing financial need. The committee did match the Senate in maintaining the maximum annual Pell Grant award of $7,395 (the president wanted to lower it to $5,710).
Additionally, the House bill eliminates funding for Title VI, or International language and education programs (including Fulbright-Hays, Language Resource Centers, and National Research Centers). The bill also cuts the department’s Institute of Education Sciences by 7%, or $740 million. The full House Appropriations Committee is expected to consider the bill on September 9.
In comparison, the Senate Labor-HHS-Education bill includes $79 billion for the Department of Education. The Senate committee rejected the president’s proposal to eliminate the department’s TRIO program (designed to assist students from disadvantaged backgrounds), the Graduate Assistance in Areas of National Need program, and international education programs under the Department of Education.
- The House voted 214-213 to pass the FY26 Energy-Water bill on Thursday. The bill provides a 2% increase for the Department of Energy Office of Science but makes deep cuts to the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Energy (ARPA-E) and other research offices.
Congress must approve 12 appropriations bills by September 30 in order to fund the federal government’s discretionary spending for FY26. The differing spending totals coming out of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees mean that lawmakers will have to work together to reconcile their differences further down the road.
As the process unfolds, AAU will continue reminding members of Congress of the immense importance of including robust funding for scientific research and higher education in the FY26 appropriations bills.
Kritika Agarwa is assistant vice president for communications at AAU.