CONGRESS

By a 341 to 88 vote, the House passed H.R. 7148, which includes final fiscal year (FY) 2026 appropriations for the U.S. Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies (LHHS) in addition to funding for the U.S. Departments of Defense, Transportation and Housing and Urban Development. The bill text can be found here. The text of the explanatory statement can be found here. The House also passed H.R. 7147, a measure providing appropriations for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The rule passed by the House that governed debate on these measures required the H.R. 7148 and H.R. 7147 text, as well as the H.R. 7006 text (the measure passed by the House last week that provides appropriations to the U.S. Department of Financial Services and U.S. Department of State) to be combined and sent to the Senate as one bill. The Senate is expected to consider this measure consisting of the final six FY 2026 appropriations bills next week.

By a 217 to 211 vote, the House passed H.R. 6359, the Pregnant Students’ Rights Act.

The House Committee on Education and Workforce held a markup of H.R. 7082, the Fostering Learning and Excellence in Charter Schools (FLEX) Act, and H.R. 7086, the Equitable Access to School Facilities Act. The Committee passed both bills by a 19 to 15 vote.

ADMINISTRATION

The U.S. Department of Education (ED) temporarily paused involuntary collection efforts on Federal student loans, including the use of administrative wage garnishment and the Treasury Offset Program.

The Office of Management and Budget issued a budget data request to all Federal departments and agencies, excluding the U.S. Department of War and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. The request seeks detailed information on how Federal funds were spent by entities in 14 States and Washington, DC, with the goal of reducing fraud.

COURTS

A district court judge ordered ED to reconsider certain TRIO grants that were denied or discontinued last year on the basis of diversity, equity and inclusion language.

ED and the plaintiffs in American Federation of Teachers v. U.S. Department of Education jointly agreed to allow for the agency’s appeal in this case to be dropped. The case challenged a February 14, 2025, Dear Colleague Letter issued by ED, which stated that race-based programming and related policies were unlawful and should not be used by institutions of higher education or K–12 schools.

EVENTS

Penn Hill Group plans on providing clients with a summary of the following event next week:

January 23: Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Full Committee Hearing titled “Empowering Families Through Educational Choice in America.”