Congress Works To Complete Adoption of Final Appropriations Bills While the Administration and Department of Education Also Move Forward with Major Regulatory Framework and Policy Changes
Overview
On Tuesday afternoon the House and Senate Appropriations Committee leadership veiled the details of a four-package set of fiscal year 2026 (FY26) annual spending bills which included Defense, Homeland Security, Transportation-HUD, and, most importantly for our community’s future, Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education. The release of the legislation is intended to clear the way for these bills, along with the four other remaining outstanding annual appropriations bills, to be enacted in advance of the January 30th deadline for enactment of all twelve appropriations bills funding our nation’s government for (FY26).
Today, the U.S. House of Representatives is working feverishly to overcome objections to specific provisions contained in the package of funding bills. While compromises were achieved this morning to gain passage of the Rules enabling the bills to be brought to the full House for consideration, the bills will now be subject to a series of amendments to be considered which could jeopardize the precarious agreement raised by the Appropriators in seeking to bring the bills to the floor and passage in both chambers.
CSPEN will continue to monitor the House floor negotiations and provide an update tomorrow on whether or not the House is successful in passing the bills -and any significant changes in the Labor-HHS-Education portion of the package and all of the remaining nine outstanding bills before they leave town for a scheduled House recess at the end of the week.
If the House is successful in achieving their goal of passing all annual funding bills, the U.S. Senate – returning from a week-long recess this week – will have the last week of January to pass the House versions of the legislation without any amendments to what comes over from the House avoid yet another potential government shutdown. (Note: This is why and accepted amendments that are approved during the House floor consideration are so important to monitor – as they could force Senate opposition and derail the ability to complete passage before the existing continuing resolution expires on Friday, January 30th at midnight.)
Below is a very brief summary of key higher education funding decisions contained within the Labor-HHS-Education portion of the bill, as well as key legislative language within the Education portion that is noteworthy and likely to be noted in both House and Senate floor deliberations.
In addition to the Legislative Summary, CSPEN also wanted to share a brief update on a couple of Regulatory topics with you as well. They too are noted below.
Summary of Key Portions of FY26 Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations Bill
For the most part the FY26 proposals maintain the status quo for “Education” – which is not necessarily bad news given the proposed cuts and changes proposed by President Trump as part of his FY26 Budget. The compromise proposal which Congress will seek to approve in the House this week and the Senate next week keeps most funding flat – keeping funding at the same levels previously enacted (for some cases for two years). The bill also maintains funding for programs within the Department in which the prior years funds were allocated – but not expended under the Trump Administration as part of the transition and reduction in staffing.
Regarding key Higher Education Programs, this data developed by the Committee for Education Funding (CEF) is very useful.
In addition to the actual funding allocations, what is always important to review is the summary and explanation accompanying the allocations. One key portion of the Education summary is information regarding Interagency Agreements and Program Transfers. This language has garnered considerable attention given the U.S. Department of Education’s (Department) “proof of concept” transfer and allocation of both program operations and staffing to other federal agencies. Here is the key language that folks are reviewing and interpreting in light of the actions already well underway…
“Interagency Agreements and Program Transfers .-The agreement notes that it provides funding to the Department of Education to carry out specific programs, projects, and activities that have been authorized in law for the Department of Education to carry out. It also continues a provision that prohibits the transfer of such funding to another Federal agency unless such transfer authority is provided in an appropriations law. The agreement further notes that no authorities exist for the Department of Education to transfer its fundamental responsibilities under numerous authorizing and appropriations laws, including through procuring services from other Federal agencies, of carrying out those programs, projects, and activities to other Federal agencies.”
While opinion vary, most interpret this language and not preventing the Department from the actions they have already taken – or moving forward even further – but does signal that Congress ultimately has considerable say in both how the Department moves forward and ultimately whether or not it can be dismantled.
Regulatory Update
CSPEN is keeping an eye out for several key announcements from the Department we anticipate coming before the end of the month and in February, as well as several key announcements which took place this week. Here is a very brief summary of key topics with are tracking.
Federal Student Loan Debt Collections
Last week the Department issued a press release (centralstatesedu.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=75e01bde202d593ed21c1c91c&id=5976d4c386&e=05bce952ad) notify the public of its decision to further delay efforts to use involuntary collection methods to recoup outstanding student loan debt. As noted in the press release the Department believes that further delaying the use of Administrative Wage Garnishment and Treasury Offset Program collection options…
“will enable the Department to implement major student loan repayment reforms under the Working Families Tax Cuts Act (the Act) to give borrowers more options to repay their loans. These reforms, which include simplifying repayment options and providing an additional opportunity for borrowers to rehabilitate their federal student loans, reflect the Trump Administration’s commitment to provide better support for current and future borrowers in repayment.”
2025-26 Federal Negotiated Rulemaking
CSPEN is on the lookout for the publication of the first of three Notice of Proposed Rulemaking(NPRMs) to be published by the Department in the coming weeks – with the remainder to follow in February and March. In order of the negotiations, it is realistic to anticipate that the first NPRM will provide regulatory proposals and Preamble support for the outcome of the RISE Committee’s successful efforts to develop consensus language implementing the statutory student loan provisions enacted in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBB). We anticipate that this NPRM may precede or coming just after CSPEN’s 8^th Annual Higher Education Policy Meeting.
Next in line would most likely be the Federal Workforce Pell and Pell Eligibility regulatory proposals developed by the AHEAD Committee. Like their predecessors, the AHEAD Committee was successful in achieving consensus on proposals seeking to implement that addition of a Workforce Pell” framework to the existing Federal Pell Grant program as prescribed by OBBB. We anticipate the publication of this NPRM with both the regulatory language and Preamble in late February.
And finally, last, but certainly not least, will be the publication of the outcome of the most recent Earnings Accountability regulatory proposals developed by the AHEAD Committee and approved by consensus with one abstention. Given that these negotiations ended less than two weeks ago, we don’t anticipate seeing publication of the NPRM before March, or perhaps even April.
Additional Department Guidance On Existing Regulations
With all of the attention focused upon the necessary efforts by the Department to focus on quickly responding to several of the Administration’s key initiatives and developing new regulations in response to Congressional directives in OBBB, additional guidance and clarifications on key topics important to many different facets of the higher education community anticipated would be provided sooner, are likely to start coming out in the near future. Some of these will likely be Electronic Announcements, while still others may be part future regulatory deliberations through Federal Negotiated Rulemaking (see below). CSPEN believes that new information will be forthcoming on topics including but not limited to BDR, 90/10, and others. We will immediately share any of these updates once they are made.
2026 Federal Negotiated Rulemaking
Building upon statements made during the most recent negotiations, as well as objected outlined in the Administrations Unified Agenda, CSPEN also anticipates publication by the Department of its intent to host additional Federal Negotiated Rulemaking sessions this year. The Department shared publicly already its intent to host deliberations on revisions related to Accreditation, so we feel certain that this will be the focus of one set of negotiations. In addition, conversations continue to suggest that the Department will also undertake additional negotiations seeking to revisit several Biden-Harris Administration era additions and revisions to the regulations.
