June 5, 2025

Publisher's note: The previous LAW Update included a description of the President's Budget request as it pertains to community colleges. This description omitted two details. (1) President Trump requested to maintain funding levels for Developing Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs). (2) The Trump administration requested to level fund State Career and Technical Education (CTE) grants while decreasing funding for national programs.  

Leading the News this Week

ACCT has been informing members and staffers of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee of the possible impacts of the reconciliation proposal that they will soon be tasked with evaluating and possibly modifying. ACCT is greatly concerned with the proposal to eliminate Pell eligibility for students enrolled in less than half-time (this would amount to 7.5 credits, which in a traditional 3 credits per course model means that students would have to enroll for three classes (9 credits) to be Pell eligible). The next couple of days, through the first weeks of June, will be a critical time to reach out to these Senators and advocate for community colleges and their students. To further amplify these efforts in this slim window of time, we ask you to participate in our action campaign and let your Senators know, with data, the ill effects of this current reconciliation bill. Take action here!

Any questions or requests for support in contacting the Senate should be directed to publicpolicy@acct.org. 

News in Higher Education

LAW is Going Live

Please join ACCT's Government Relations Team tomorrow, June 6th, at 1:00 PM ET as they unpack updates in the Federal government, including the latest on the reconciliation process and the Trump administration's budget request. Click here to register. 

House Appropriations Aims to Get Back on Track

The chair of the House Appropriations Committee, Tom Cole (OK-04), announced that next week he plans to release the topline funding totals for Fiscal Year 2026 and the individual allocations for the 12 appropriations bills. Chair Cole plans to have the Committee vote on the subcommittee allocations (302Bs) next week during the first full committee markup for the year. The Committee began its work this week with two subcommittees (Agriculture and Rural Development; Military Construction and VA) marking up their legislation. The markup for the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies (LHHS) bill is not scheduled until the week of July 21, 2025. Cole's goal is to have the 12 appropriations bills approved before the August recess.

Week of Congressional Hearings

The Hill was active this week with three Congressional Hearings in the education and labor space. Here are the major takeaways:

• Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies held a hearing titled A Review of the President’s Fiscal Year 2026 Budget Request for the Department of Education, featuring Secretary of Education Linda McMahon as the witness. 
  • Senators from both sides of the aisle questioned Secretary McMahon on the proposal to eliminate TRIO programs instead of working with Congress to enact greater accountability for the program. In this same hearing, Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith (MS) spoke in support of workforce Pell and asked for this to be included in the Department’s plans.  
• House Education and Workforce Committee held a hearing titled Examining the Policies and Priorities of the Department of Education, featuring Secretary of Education Linda McMahon as the witness.

  • While much of the conversation involved questioning Secretary Linda McMahon on K-12 school choice policies and accountability, Representative Rick Allen (GA-12) uplifted Workforce Pell programming as an alternative avenue to a four-year degree. Secretary McMahon once again showed her support for Workforce Pell Grants, a priority ACCT has long advocated for. In terms of workforce development, Representative Glenn “GT” Thompson (PA-15) expressed the success of Career and Technical Education programs, while Representatives Bobby Scott (VA-03) and Joe Courtney (CT-02) highlighted President Trump’s request to cut workforce development and adult education programs.     

• House Education and Workforce Committee held a hearing titled Examining the Policies and Priorities of the Department of Labor, featuring Secretary of Labor Lore Chavez-Deremer as the witness.

The Department of Education To Not Garnish Social Security Benefits

Earlier this week, the Department of Education announced that it will not garnish Social Security benefits of borrowers who defaulted on their student loans. On May 5th, the Department resumed collecting payments on defaulted student loans after a five-year pause. According to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, about 452,000 people aged 62 and older had student loans in default.

The President's Budget Request: Recap

The Trump administration released additional information regarding the President's budget request for the Department of Education and the Department of Labor, which includes the following:

The elimination of funding for the following programs:

• Supplemental Education Opportunity Grants (SEOG)
• All seven TRIO Programs, such as Upward Bound (UB), Student Support Services, and Veterans UB
• Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP),
• The Strengthening Institutions Programs (SIP)
• The Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE)
• Child Care Access Means Parents in School (CCAMPIS) Program
• Adult Basic Education

President Trump has also requested a reduction of funding for the following:

• The maximum Pell award, reduced from $7,395 to $5,710 (a 22% or $1,685 cut).
• An 80% cut to the Federal Workforce Study program, with the added component that employers are to pay 75 percent of a student's wage, with the federal government contributing the remaining 25 percent (this is a reversal of the current cost-share agreement, where the federal government contributes 75%).
• The creation of a Make America Skilled Again block grant, which aims to consolidate Department of Labor workforce training programs, with 10% funding geared towards apprenticeships. The Strengthening Community College Training Grant would be eliminated as part of this consolidation.  

The Trump administration is requesting to maintain funding levels for the following:

• Perkins CTE state grants, however, the budget request proposes to limit these grants to only middle and high school programs, eliminating access for community colleges to this federal program.
• Strengthening Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (TCCUs)
• Strengthening Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian-serving Institutions (ANNHs)
• Strengthening Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs)
• Strengthening Predominantly Black Institutions (PBIs)
• Strengthening Asian American- and Native American Pacific Islander-serving Institutions (AANAPISIs)
• Strengthening Native American-serving nontribal institutions (NASNTIs) 
• Developing Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs)

Advocacy Update

Now that the House Education and Workforce Committee no longer has reconciliation on their to-do list, ACCT is reaching out to committee staff and staffers from members' offices to orient their focus on reauthorizing the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA). One feature of this reauthorization would be the codification of the Strengthening Community Colleges Training Grants (SCCTG). The December 2024 draft of the Continuing Resolution, a government funding package, included reauthorization language, which was later removed in the final bill in favor of a slimmer funding package.

For more on ACCT's list of advocacy priorities, please view our Green Sheet.

To further enhance our advocacy efforts, the Government Relations Team invites you to email publicpolicy@acct.org to share how recent developments at the federal level have impacted your students and your campus.

Grant Opportunities

Please review the Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education's Community College webpage for new grants community colleges are eligible for.

Developing Hispanic-Serving Institutions Program

The Department of Education is issuing a notice inviting applications for fiscal year 2025 for the Developing Hispanic-Serving Institutions Program.

This program provides grants to eligible institutions of higher education to expand educational opportunities for, and improve the academic attainment of, Hispanic students; and expand and enhance the academic offerings, program quality, and institutional stability of colleges and universities that are educating the majority of Hispanic college students. The closing date for this opportunity is July 3, 2025. Click here for additional information.

• June 6, 1:00PM ET - LAW Live Webinar
• June 17 - Preservation and Access Education and Training Grant closing date
• June 20 - Fire Science Innovations through Research and Education (FIRE) Grant Application Due
• July 3- Developing Hispanic-Serving Institutions Program Application Due
• Jul 11, 01:00 PM ET - LAW Live Webinar
• Aug 1, 01:00 PM ET - LAW Live Webinar
• Sep 5, 01:00 PM ET - LAW Live Webinar
• October 22 - 25 - ACCT Leadership Congress

Outreach Efforts

Is your institution meeting or hosting an event with federal elected officials?

We created a Congressional Contact Form that will help us track outreach efforts of community college leaders across our membership. By filling out the form, you are better informing ACCT's advocacy efforts and our advocacy team is able to continue those conversations with congressional staff in DC. 

ACCT NOW is the go-to resource for issues affecting community colleges. Our new website features original reporting and research, as well as of-the-moment legislative updates. ACCT NOW also includes articles, reports, and research from outside sources that benefit the ACCT community. Read the Latest Articles on ACCT NOW:

Would you Like a Federal Update Session for Your Team?

Both this new presidential administration and new Congress have brought with them a flurry of developments in the federal landscape that can make keeping up a monumental task. ACCT's Government Relations team is here to help by offering a 45-minute to an-hour federal update session to community college leadership teams who are ACCT members. To request a session, fill out this form and please email publicpolicy@acct.org with any questions.

Have a Question?

Contact us with any questions or concerns about public policy and ACCT's advocacy on behalf of two-year colleges and two-year college trustees. ACCT's Latest Action in Washington alerts are sent to interested ACCT members to keep you up to date on important legislative activities that impact community colleges.

If you no longer wish to receive ACCT's Latest Action in Washington alerts, reply to this email with UNSUBSCRIBE in the subject line. For more information about ACCT's advocacy services, visit acct.org/advocacy

Spread the Word.

Please encourage your fellow trustees, presidents and colleagues to stay up to date about legislation that affects their community colleges by joining the Latest Action in Washington (LAW) Alert network. To join, simply register here. 

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