The federal government is still shut down as Members of Congress remain at a stalemate on a continuing resolution for FY 2026 appropriations. While leaders from both parties continue to emphasize their specific priorities, with Democrats focused on extending health care tax credits that are set to expire and Republicans not supportive of addressing that issue in this bill, little progress has been made on negotiations. Senate Republicans announced that they will introduce and vote on legislation next week that would pay some federal workers as well as active military members, while the Administration has also taken steps to shift funding to cover troop pay and some other areas. There were also some conversations this week on moving forward on the underlying FY 2026 appropriations bills, but those efforts stalled. Read more updates below. 

• Federal Judge Halts Shutdown Firings: On Oct. 15, a federal judge temporarily blocked the Trump Administration from issuing mass layoffs during the government shutdown, stemming from a lawsuit brought on by several federal labor unions. This follows the Administration’s move last week to fire over 400 workers from the Education Department (ED), decimating the special education and other offices, as well as numerous other agencies 

• National Accreditation Meeting Delayed by Shutdown: On Oct. 14, the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity at ED—which brings together accreditation agencies—delayed its semiannual convening for the second time in a year. The committee was originally supposed to meet on Oct. 21 after an initial delay but pushed the date back again to December as a result of the government shutdown.  

• Trump Administrations Expands Funding Compact to All Colleges: On Oct. 14, the Trump Administration invited any postsecondary institution to sign a funding compact that was initially only sent to elite universities. The compact would give preferential funding status to institutions that align with the Administration’s priorities on gender and other topics. Brown, MIT and several other universities have already rejected the compact. 

• Senate HELP Committee Releases Report on AI and Jobs: The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Democrats recently released a report on job losses from AI and automation. The report suggested that many major workforce sectors could see more than half of their jobs replaced over the next decade. CTE-related occupations are implicated in the report. 

• ACTE Submits Comments on Modernizing IES: This week, ACTE and Advance CTE submitted comments to ED on recommendations for redesigning the Institute of Education Sciences (IES), calling on IES to collect additional data on CTE topics. We also signed on to broader comments organized by the Institute for Higher Education Policy