Department of Education Appropriations Act, 2026

Key Points

• This massive spending bill funds the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education for fiscal year 2026. It provides billions for job training, medical research at NIH, K-12 schools, special education, and community health centers — covering programs that touch nearly every American.
• The maximum Pell Grant for college students is set at $6,335 for the 2026-2027 school year. The bill also blocks multiple student loan forgiveness and repayment reform rules, and renames workforce Pell Grants as "Trump Grants."
• The bill bans federal funding for most abortions, blocks funds for gender-affirming medical interventions, prohibits enforcement of COVID-19 vaccine mandates, and defunds Planned Parenthood-type organizations that perform abortions beyond narrow exceptions.
• Schools that allow transgender girls to play on girls' sports teams would lose federal funding. The bill also blocks enforcement of a 2024 Title IX rule that expanded protections based on gender identity and sexual orientation.
• The bill renames AmeriCorps as "America First Corps," defunds all diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, blocks climate-related executive orders, bans funding to the Wuhan Institute of Virology and Chinese government labs, and prohibits gun violence research that treats firearms as a public health issue.
• The bill includes $100 million for "Make America Healthy Again" activities and rescinds billions from prior appropriations including $12.8 billion from the Children's Health Insurance Program contingency fund and $183 million from the American Rescue Plan Act.

Votes

No votes have been recorded for this legislation yet.