FY 2026 Appropriations Status Report
As Congress returns from its August recess, the FY 2026 appropriations process is gaining momentum and the outlines of a final spending package are beginning to take shape.
Before the recess, the Senate Appropriations Committee advanced its FY 2026 Labor, Health and Human Services (LHHS) funding bill. On September 2, the House LHHS Appropriations Subcommittee followed suit by marking up its version. Importantly, neither bill includes proposals to cut or eliminate Head Start or Migrant and Seasonal Head Start (MSHS).
The House Labor-HHS-Education (LHHS) Subcommittee has released and marked up its FY2026 appropriations bill, and the full House Appropriations Committee is expected to consider and pass the LHHS bill within the next week. For Head Start, the House subcommittee bill maintains funding at $12.27 billion, matching both the FY2025 enacted level and the President’s FY2026 request. The Senate bill offers a modest increase to $12.36 billion, an additional $85 million. The key challenge ahead will be reconciling the differences between the House and Senate bills before the September 30 government funding deadline. If Congress cannot finalize appropriations, lawmakers will need to rely on a short-term or year-long continuing resolution—or risk a government shutdown.
We will continue to closely monitor developments and emphasize the importance of MSHS in supporting farmworker families, rural communities, and the broader agricultural economy. Your continued advocacy will be crucial as Congress finalizes FY 2026 funding, and a toolkit with core talking points is available below, to support your messaging when speaking to your members of congress or posting to social media.
If you have growers who could support our advocacy efforts, by providing testimonials or participating in congressional meetings, please contact the Feighan Team at hannah@feighan.org.
The table below provides topline funding levels for Head Start, the Community Services Block Grant (CSBG), and the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG), comparing final FY 2024 and FY 2025 appropriations, the President’s FY 2026 request, and the FY 2026 House and Senate committee bills.
