House Republicans Continue Assault on Public Education and Research into Lifesaving Cures

Bill Abandons the Working Class, the Middle Class, and the Vulnerable and Eliminates Funding for Reproductive Health

WASHINGTON — House Appropriations Committee Republicans today released the draft fiscal year 2026 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies funding bill, which will be considered in subcommittee tomorrow. The legislation is an assault on education and job training, slashes medical research, abandons ongoing public health crises, and eliminates funding for reproductive health.

For 2026, the bill provides $197.5 billion, a cut of $23.9 billion – 11 percent – below 2025. The legislation:

• Decimates support for children in K-12 elementary schools by slashing funding for low-income students, eliminating funding for teacher training, and eliminating funding for community schools.
• Slashes research into lifesaving cures by cutting funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH)—including the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H)—and eliminating funding for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).     
• Harms women’s health by cutting programs that support maternal and child health, eliminating programs that provide access to health services and contraception, and adding numerous partisan and poison pill riders related to abortion and reproductive health.
• Abandons college students and low-income workers trying to improve their lives through postsecondary education by eliminating funding for need-based financial aid, adult job training, and adult education.
• Surrenders to ongoing health crises by cutting funding for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), and the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), including major cuts to State and local health departments, tobacco prevention programs, HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment, substance use prevention and treatment, and mental health services.

“The middle class, the working class, and vulnerable Americans are facing a cost-of-living crisis. They need affordable health care, access to reproductive health, and good public schools, but with the 2026 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies funding bill, Republicans are abandoning them,” Appropriations Committee and Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies Subcommittee Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro (D-CT-03) said. “Republicans are continuing their full-scale attempt to eliminate public education, decimating support for children in K-12 elementary schools and threatening the future of an entire generation. Instead of focusing on helping Americans deal with the high cost of living, this bill would hurt hardworking Americans trying to improve their lives through higher education or job training. Even if students reach their goals and find a good job, they will find no support from House Republicans in the workplace. This bill slashes worker wage, health, and safety protections.”

“Following President Trump’s lead, House Republicans want to make health care less affordable and slash research into lifesaving cures. Republicans are proposing cutting funding for the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. They are slashing funding for State and local health departments, substance use prevention and treatment, and mental health services, and eliminating funding for tobacco prevention and HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment,” DeLauro continued. “And finally, the bill has multiple attacks on women. House Republicans are once again proposing eliminating funding for Title X Family planning and the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program and blocking funding for access to abortion and reproductive health services. This bill is an attack on the programs and services that Americans depend on at every stage of their life.”

A summary of House Republicans’ 2026 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies funding bill is here. A fact sheet is here. The text of the bill is here. The subcommittee markup will be webcast live and linked on the House Committee on Appropriations website.

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