This week’s Federal Update covers Congressionalm and Executive activities of interest in Washington, D.C.
Congressional Branch activities of interest
Floor Activity
The House and Senate are in Session this week.
FY 2026 Appropriations
On September 10, House Appropriations Chairman Tom Cole (R-OK) offered a motion to move the House to conference with the Senate on three FY26 appropriations bills: Military Construction and Veterans Affairs; Agriculture; and Legislative Branch.
House Appropriations Committee Markup Wednesday, September 10
On September 10 the House Appropriations Committee reported out the FY26 Commerce-Justice-Science appropriations bill. The bill provides $7 billion for NSF, a 23% cut from the FY25 enacted level.
Read the bill text here, the Majority’s bill summary here, and the Committee report here.
House Appropriations Committee Markup Tuesday, September 9
On September 9 the House Appropriations Committee reported out the FY26 Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill. The bill includes $46.9 billion for the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The legislation does not include the Trump administration’s proposal to reorganize the NIH.
Funding for the Department of Education is cut 15%. The bill would eliminate funding for Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants (SEOG) and Title VI International Education Programs. The maximum individual Pell Grant award and Federal TRIO Programs were flat funded at FY25 levels. During the markup Indiana Rep. Frank Mrvan (D) said that the bill does not sufficiently fund medical research at the NIH. Watch the markup here.
Read the bill text here, the Majority's bill summary here, and the Committee report here.
Senator Cantwell Releases Report on Media Rights Payments in College Sports
On September 10, Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, released a report on college sports TV revenues. In the report, Sen. Cantwell argues that growing media rights payments have created a financial gap between traditional power conferences and every other conference. Read the full report here.
Hearings
On September 10, the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation’s Subcommittee on Science, Manufacturing, and Competitiveness convened a hearing called, “AI’ve Got a Plan: America’s AI Action Plan.” The hearing’s sole witness was Michael Kratsios, Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, who discussed the White House’s AI Action Plan. During the hearing, Indiana Senator Todd Young (R) commended the Plan’s emphasis on AI-Enabled Science, and noted the similarities between the AI Action Plan and the National Security Commission on Emerging Biotechnology’s final report. As chair of the Commission, Senator Young discussed the importance of cloud labs for American research and development in biotechnology. Cloud labs are artificial intelligence-enabled laboratories that can be remotely accessed. Watch the hearing here.
Markups
On September 9, the House Small Business Committee reported out a bill titled, “To extend the SBIR and STTR programs, and for other purposes” (H.R. 5100) to reauthorize the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs for one year. The text may be found here.
Executive Branch activities of interest
Department of Education Ends Funding for Discretionary Grant Programs at Minority-Serving Institutions
On September 10, the Department of Education announced that it will end discretionary funding to several Minority-Serving Institutions (MSI) grant programs, including the Title V Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSI) programs. The Department’s press release stated that MSI programs “discriminate by conferring government benefits exclusively to institutions that meet racial or ethnic quotas.” In its press release, ED stated that it will reprogram approximately $350 million in discretionary funding for MSIs. Read the full release here.