House and Senate Education Committees Take Divergent Approaches to Education Department Interagency Agreements
House and Senate Education Committees Take Divergent Approaches to Education Department Interagency Agreements
 
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August 2026

Protecting Education Research at the Department of Education

In July, the House Education and Workforce Committee and the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee considered legislation addressing the interagency agreements the Department of Education has used to transfer programs and functions to other federal agencies.

The Trump administration has used the agreements as part of its effort to dismantle the Department of Education. The transfers began last November when programs administered by the Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education were moved to the Department of Labor. The most recent agreements, announced in June, moved programs administered by the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) to the Department of Health and Human Services and some functions of the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) to the Department of Justice.

The House and Senate committees took sharply different approaches to the agreements.

On July 15, the House Education and Workforce Committee held a markup of 10 bills that would codify the Education Department’s interagency agreements. The legislation addressed all of the agreements except the most recent transfers involving OSERS and OCR. The committee advanced all 10 bills, mostly along party lines.

During consideration of H.R. 9609, which would codify the transfer of higher education programs to the Department of Labor, and H.R. 9610, which would codify the move of K–12 programs to the Department of Labor, Ranking Member Bobby Scott (D-VA) offered amendments that would prohibit the use of funds to implement the White House Office of Management and Budget’s proposed Regulation on Federal Financial Assistance. Neither amendment was adopted.

On July 30, the Senate HELP Committee held a markup on several bills, including S. 5046, which would prohibit the transfer of four Education Department offices—the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, OSERS, the Office of Postsecondary Education, and the Office of Indian Education—to other agencies through interagency agreements. The committee advanced the bipartisan bill sponsored by Sens. Tim Kaine (D-VA), Susan Collins (R-ME), and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), by a 13–9 vote.

Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) offered an amendment that would have extended the prohibition to all Education Department programs and functions, including the Institute of Education Sciences (IES). The amendment failed by an 11–12 vote. IES is one of the few major Education Department components that has not been included in an interagency agreement.

Separately, the Senate HELP Committee advanced the College Transparency Act (CTA), which would authorize the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) to develop a secure, privacy-protected postsecondary student-level data system. The legislation has long been a priority for HELP Committee Chair Bill Cassidy (R-LA), and AERA has been a longstanding supporter.

Prospects for floor consideration of the House and Senate bills remain uncertain, given the August recess and the limited legislative calendar preceding the midterm elections.