Following the House passage of their budget reconciliation bill (H.R. 1, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act) in May, work has now shifted to the Senate, where each relevant committee is preparing legislative text to be combined into a comprehensive bill
Last week, the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) released it portion of the budget reconciliation package. While the Senate bill builds on many of the provisions included in the House-passed bill, including significant changes to student loans, it removes the provision that would eliminate Pell Grant eligibility for students enrolled less than half time. It also maintains the current definition of full-time status for the purpose of Pell grants at 12 credit hours per semester, rather than shifting it to 15 credit hours as in the House bill. The Senate bill would provide $10.5 billion in funding to the Pell Grant program, in light of a predicted shortfall.
Like in the House bill, the Senate bill also includes language that would expand Pell Grant access for short-term training programs. Programs between 150 and 599 clock hours in length that are at least eight weeks would be eligible for Pell Grants. Senators included some additional guardrails to ensure program quality. Programs must meet key completion, job placement and earning metrics to maintain eligibility, including verifying that program completion leads to “value added earnings,” meaning that the amount that earnings exceed 150% of the poverty standard, with regional adjustments.
In addition to the HELP Committee bill, the Senate Committee on Finance released its text last night. The Finance Committee is the final Senate committee to release its legislative text.
Similar to the House bill, included in the text is the creation of $5,000 tax credit for K-12 private school vouchers. Students who benefit from the vouchers must be members of a household with an income not greater than 300% of the area median gross income and be eligible to enroll in a public elementary or secondary school. ACTE opposes any proposal that would take resources away from public education.
The Senate reconciliation package will now go directly to the floor to be considered by the full Senate. If the bill passes, it will be sent back to the House for its approval or the creation of a Conference Committee to reconcile the differences between the two bills.
ACTE will continue to monitor the bill and communicate the latest developments as they occur. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to ACTE’s Government Relations Manager, Jimmy Koch (jkoch@acteonline.org).
