January 2026

With the January 30 deadline approaching for the continuing resolution (CR) that extended fiscal year (FY) 2025 funding for federal agencies that fund education research, Congress moved through January to advance several FY 2026 appropriations packages.

FY 2026 Minibus Including CJS Bill Includes Modest NSF Cut, Maintains EDU Directorate Allocation

President Trump is expected to sign appropriations legislation that was advanced by the House on January 8 and the Senate on January 15 that includes three bills, among them the FY 2026 Commerce, Justice, Science (CJS) bill funding the National Science Foundation (NSF). This package largely rejects the president’s proposed 56 percent cut to NSF and preserves a separate allocation for the STEM Education (EDU) Directorate. The package represents consensus among House and Senate appropriations leadership.

For education research at NSF, FY 2026 funding presents a mixed picture. While the EDU Directorate faces a reduction, the cut is smaller than what was proposed in the president’s budget request, and several key programs are maintained through congressionally directed funding.

Under the three-bill “minibus,” NSF is funded at $8.75 billion for FY 2026, a 3.4 percent reduction from the FY 2024 level of $9.06 billion that was carried forward in the full-year FY 2025 CR. Within NSF, the Research and Related Activities (R&RA) account is held flat at the FY 2024 level of $7.18 billion. The EDU Directorate is funded at $938.25 million, representing a cut of $233.8 million, or nearly 20 percent, compared with FY 2024. This reduction is significantly smaller than the 75 percent cut and consolidation into R&RA proposed in the administration’s budget request.

The minibus includes language codifying the accompanying explanatory statement, which provides congressional direction on NSF funding allocations. The statement specifies that funding within the R&RA account should be equitably distributed to support all basic research directorates and the Technology, Innovation and Partnerships Directorate. In addition, the statement notes that no NSF directorate within the R&RA account should receive more than a 5 percent reduction compared with its FY 2024 level.

The explanatory statement also includes congressionally directed spending levels for several EDU Directorate programs that have since been archived. For example, the agreement provides $55 million for the Advancing Informal STEM Learning program, which was recently consolidated into a broader NSF STEM K–12 funding solicitation. Another example is the currently archived Alliances for Graduate Education and the Professoriate program, which is allocated $8 million in the agreement.

Final FY 2026 LHHS Bill Maintains Funding for IES and NIH

On January 19, the House and Senate Appropriations Committees released bill text and an accompanying explanatory statement for the Labor, Health and Human Services (LHHS) FY 2026 and Education FY 2026 bill, which funds the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The bill is part of a four-bill minibus that would provide full FY 2026 funding for the remaining agencies not yet covered by earlier appropriations packages.

The LHHS bill provides $789.61 million for IES, decisively rejecting the administration’s proposed 67 percent cut. While this represents a $3.5 million decrease from the FY 2024 funding level carried forward in the FY 2025 CR, it effectively constitutes an increase of $21.8 million when accounting for a $25 million rescission of FY 2025 funding from the IES Program Administration account. All other IES budget lines are maintained at FY 2024 levels.

The bill text notes that funding for IES shall be for the “Final Bill” column in the explanatory statement, codifying the amounts for each of the IES budget lines (e.g., Statistics). This is different from past practice that became an issue with the FY 2025 continuing resolution as the administration interpreted funding as “unallocated” within IES except for the Assessment line.

Beyond IES, the explanatory statement also states, “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.” Recognizing concerns on the recent interagency agreements that have shifted Department of Education programs to other federal agencies, the language directs the Department to provide biweekly briefings on the implementation of those agreements.

The FY 2026 LHHS bill also rejects the administration’s large proposed cut for NIH and the proposed consolidation of NIH centers. The bill includes a small increase for the NIH top line and a $10 million increase for the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.

The explanatory statement for NIH addresses efforts by the administration to establish a flat 15 percent indirect cost rate for grants. The statement directs agencies under the bill to consider improvements to calculations for indirect costs such as the Financial Accountability in Research model advanced by the Joint Associations Group on Indirect Costs. The statement also prohibits NIH or other federal agencies from developing or implementing policies that would alter current NIH regulations for calculating indirect cost rates.

The bill is expected to be voted on by the House this week and the Senate next week.