The House and Senate Appropriations Committees released a minibus package containing the final fiscal year (FY) 2026 appropriations bills covering Labor-HHS-Education, Transportation-HUD, Defense, and Homeland Security. The House has already added the package to its list of measures eligible for floor consideration under a rule, with the Rules Committee scheduled to markup the package this Wednesday, January 21, 2026 at 2pm ET.
The Labor-HHS-Education bill provides $13.7 billion for the Department of Labor, an increase of $65 million over FY 2025 and roughly $4 billion above the President’s request. Key Department of Labor funding provisions include $2.9 billion for WIOA formula grants, $285 million for Registered Apprenticeships to advance the Trump Administration’s goal of reaching one million active apprentices, and level funding for both the Employee Benefits Security Administration ($191 million) and the Wage and Hour Division ($260 million). The bill also continues funding for two agencies the Trump Administration proposed to eliminate, providing $100 million for the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs and $23 million for the Women’s Bureau.
For the Department of Education, the bill includes $1.45 billion for Career and Technical Education grants and sets the maximum Pell Grant award at $7,395 for the 2026–2027 award year, rejecting the Administration’s proposal to reduce Pell Grant funding by more than $1,000.
Notably, the bill would also cut funding for the National Labor Relations Board by $5 million, marking the first reduction to the agency’s budget in more than a decade.
The Joint Explanatory Statement on the bill is available here, the bill summary is available here, and a list of congressional earmarks is available here.