While congressional Republicans will press down on spending for domestic programs, the chair of the House Appropriations Committee has indicated that his panel will not make dramatic cuts to align with the president’s budget request.
Rep. Tom Cole (R-Oklahoma) announced on Thursday that the House will allocate $705.6 billion for discretionary, non-defense programs for fiscal year (FY) 2026, representing a 6% cut from current levels — a far cry from the 22.6% cut requested by the Trump administration in its budget proposal. The Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations Subcommittee will work with an allocation of $184.5 billion, down from $185.6 billion in FY 25.
President Donald Trump’s pitch to cut discretionary, non-defense funding includes a 15% cut to funding for the U.S. Education Department. It also proposed eliminating or dramatically reducing funding for key programs, including TRIO and GEAR UP, Federal Work Study, Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants, Adult Education, Childcare Access Means Parents in School and the HEA Title III-A Strengthening Institutions Program.
The budget request also seeks to cut the maximum Pell Grant award to $5,710 for the 2026-27 award year. It is currently $7,395. It has remained at this amount since the 2023-24 award year.
While the House’s top-line number spells a much better funding environment than that envisioned in the budget request, it makes funding increases very unlikely and may still leave many programs vulnerable to cuts or even elimination.
The American Association of Community Colleges urges its member colleges to highlight the importance of Pell grants, campus-based aid, institutional aid and other key grant programs to their members of Congress.
The Appropriations Committee has rescheduled its markup for education/labor programs to September 4 for the subcommittee and September 9 for the full committee.
