Early Friday morning, the House passed the GOP budget bill Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) described this way: “It’s taxing the poor to give to the rich.”
The centerpiece of the bill is a series of tax breaks that overwhelming benefit the wealthy, corporations, and other big businesses—all at the expense of everyday, working Americans.
At a time when the cost of living continues to rise—and is expected to stay high—the bill makes the biggest cuts of all in Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Millions of children will lose access to healthcare and food assistance, including school meals. Some will lose both.
It also dramatically increases funding for the ramped-up immigration enforcement and denial of due process that is already traumatizing our students—some are too frightened to leave home even to go to school.
Other provisions undermine education as a sentry to democracy. The bill creates a $20 billion voucher scheme—built around still more tax breaks—to weaken public schools. Restructured student loan programs limit access to higher education—in short, it will become harder to get a loan in the first place and more of a struggle to repay, especially for educators, paramedics, and others in poorly paid professions.
“It’s page after page of measures prioritizing billionaires over children, healthcare, and working families. From start to finish, it is a betrayal of the values we hold as a nation committed to opportunity, equity, and justice,” said NEA President Becky Pringle.
The bill now moves to the Senate, which is expected to make changes.
The push to make more cuts through another avenue—the annual appropriations process—advanced last week as well. Different agency heads testified before Senate and House committees about their fiscal year 2026 budget proposals, including Education Secretary Linda McMahon. She plans to continue dismantling the Department of Education; cut K-12 spending by 15%; consolidate 25 still-to-be-identified programs in two block grants; and increase funding in just one area: charter schools.
While I will miss Marc Egan as a colleague in the legislative advocacy space, I look forward to reaching out and connecting with you each week. Together, we will make the voices of NEA members and allies voices heard on the critical issues ahead.
The bill the House GOP just passed is calling for trillions in tax cuts that heavily benefit billionaires—“paid for” with devastating cuts in education, health, and nutrition programs for students, working families, seniors, people with disabilities, veterans, and more.
Support the bipartisan Protect America’s Workforce Act to reverse the March 27 executive order on collective bargaining for educators of military-connected students.
CHEER:Rep. Alma Adams (D-NC) defended diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility efforts in education as ranking member of the Higher Education and Workforce Development Subcommittee in a hearing meant to criticize those efforts.
CHEER:Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), ranking member of the House Appropriations Committee, expressed frustration with the administration’s budget request at a May 21 hearing on Education Secretary Linda McMahon’s fiscal year 2026 budget: “Without any information, we are being asked to provide resources—and resources that have been cut by 15% … We have no idea and no detail of what is on the chopping block.”
JEER: At a May 21 hearing on her fiscal year 2026 budget proposal, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon characterized the coming year as a “final mission,” described illegal Department of Education layoffs as “just cutting fat,” and denigrated the department itself as a “pass-through mechanism.”
