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Committee releases FY27 Commerce, Justice, Science Appropriations Bill, including blocking language related to indirect costs

Today, the House Appropriations Committee released the FY27 bill for the Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Subcommittee. The bill will be in subcommittee tomorrow, April 30. The text provides a total discretionary allocation of $77.34 billion, a $670 million decrease from the FY26 enacted level. The bill includes $7 billion for the NSF, $6 billion for the NASA Science Mission Directorate, and $5.85 billion for NOAA.

Notably, Section 542 extends indirect cost blocking language, holding the negotiated rates at FY24 levels. This language would block the Trump administration and Office of Management and Budget from imposing caps on indirect costs for federal research grants.

SEC. 542. In making Federal financial assistance, the Department of Commerce, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the National Science Foundation shall continue to apply the negotiated indirect cost rates in section 200.414 of title 2, Code of Federal Regulations, including with respect to the approval of deviations from negotiated indirect cost rates, to the same extent and in the same manner as such negotiated indirect cost rates were applied in fiscal year 2024: Provided, That none of the funds appropriated in this or prior Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Acts, or otherwise made available to the Department of Commerce, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the National Science Foundation may be used to develop, modify, or implement changes to such fiscal  year 2024 negotiated indirect cost rates.

Full bill text is available and a summary is available .

Senate appropriators push back on ED cuts during budget hearing

Education Secretary Linda McMahon faced backlash from both sides of the aisle on Tuesday during a Senate Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations Subcommittee hearing on the President’s proposed FY27 budget. The President’s budget requests $76.5 billion for the Department of Education, a $2.3 billion decrease from the 2026 enacted level.

TRIO programs were a major point of discussion, with nearly every Senator expressing support for the programs, and questioning McMahon over proposed cuts.ÌýSeveral Senators also used their time to draw attention to the department’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR), which is facing a 35% funding decrease. In March 2025, the Trump administration fired over half of OCR’s lawyers and staff and shut down seven of the twelve regional OCR offices. In a heated exchange between Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT), McMahon denied responsibility for these staffing cuts, but said the department was working to hire more lawyers to work through the backlog of cases.

Several senators also highlighted the dismantling of the department, and questioned McMahon on restructuring, including the plan to shift the $1.7 trillion student loan portfolio to the Treasury Department, and moving special education to HHS. Throughout the hearing, McMahon defended the budget cuts and promised that consolidation and restructuring would deliver better results for students and families. In her testimony, :

“In November of 2024, the American people elected President Trump with a clear mandate: to sunset a 46-year-old, $3 trillion, failed education bureaucracy in Washington, DC, and return authority to where it belongs—to parents, teachers, and local leaders. Amid record-low test scores and record-high numbers of students buried in debt, Americans want results.ÌýToday, I can confidently attest that we are delivering on the vision of educational renewal that, for decades, many promised but none delivered.â€

Dept. of Ed Proposes Stricter Rules on Low-Earning College Programs

Last week, the Department of Education a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) that would establish a postsecondary education accountability framework imposing stricter rules related to federal student loans and earning thresholds.

Under the proposed rule, if the typical graduate of a particular program does not earn as much as a high school graduate, the program would be ineligible for federal student loans. Similarly, graduate programs would need to demonstrate leading to earnings above those of an average bachelor’s degree holder.

These accountability measures stem from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, and the agency characterizes this as the latest step in a promise to “break the cycle of low return on investment for students and taxpayers.â€

The full NPRM can be found

NOAA Budget Request for FY2027 Now Available

The NOAA budget request for FY2027 is now available .Ìý 

As previously reported, the budget calls for significant reductions across the agency.Ìý Like last year’s request, this budget includes the proposed elimination of the the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research.