Congress Works to Finalize FY ’26 Appropriations

Lawmakers are working to finalize FY 2026 appropriations before the current continuing resolution (CR) expires on January 30. Should the House and Senate fail to reconcile the differences between their proposals before then, the federal government would shut down once again.

The House and Senate leadership plans to complete work on the nine remaining appropriations bills by creating three packages of three bills each for consideration over the next three weeks.

The funding bill packages being negotiated are:

• Commerce, Justice, Science/Energy and Water/Interior, which has been worked on this week;
• Financial Service General Government/Homeland Security/State Foreign Operations will move second; and
• Defense/Labor-Health and Human Services-Education/Transportation-Housing and Urban Development will move last.

Still at stake in the negotiations in the Labor-HHS-Education appropriations package are the funding levels for the student aid programs for the academic year beginning July 1, 2026, and protections against deep cuts to research funding. The House’s version of this bill maintains funding for the Pell Grant maximum but eliminates funding for Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants and cuts Federal Work-Study. The Senate version maintains current funding for Pell Grants and all other student aid programs.

The Senate bill also includes language blocking the administration from implementing the proposed 15% cap on indirect cost reimbursement for federal research grants.

Congress is motivated to finalize FY 2026 appropriations as the traditional start of the annual budget process in February is quickly approaching.

For more information, please contact:
Stephanie Giesecke