House FY27 Proposal Would Decimate Federal Investment in Language Education and Global Competitiveness

For immediate release

On Friday, June 5, the House Labor HHS Education Appropriations Committee will mark up an FY27 spending bill that proposes to cut more than $8 billion from the Department of Education and decimate language education programs. Specifically, the bill would eliminate all funding for the $2.19 billion Title II-A (educator professional development) program, the $890 million Title III (English Language Acquisition) program, and the $81 million HEA Title VI-Fulbright Hays (international education and language studies) program. Title I, the largest K-12 education program, would receive a $1.9 billion cut under the same bill. Two small bright spots—slight increases for Title IV-A (flexible block grant) and Indian Education—are helpful but do little to offset these other massive cuts.

Responding to the proposal, Amanda Seewald, Executive Director of JNCL-NCLIS, issued the following statement:

"The funding proposal released by the House Appropriations Committee represents one of the most alarming threats to language education and global workforce development that we have seen in decades. At a time when employers consistently identify multilingual and intercultural skills as critical workforce assets, these proposed cuts move our nation in the wrong direction. Language education is not a luxury.  It is a strategic investment in America's future. From our classrooms and communities to our businesses, military, intelligence agencies, and international partnerships, language skills create opportunities and strengthen our nation's ability to lead in an interconnected world.

Eliminating Title II-A, Title III, and Title VI-Fulbright Hays would severely weaken our nation's ability to prepare globally ready citizens, develop a multilingual workforce, support English learners, and strengthen the language capabilities essential to our economic competitiveness, national security, diplomacy, and international engagement."

Seewald added:

"JNCL urges Congressional appropriators to reject these devastating cuts and instead invest in the programs that help ensure every student has access to the language learning opportunities needed to succeed in the global economy and contribute meaningfully to our nation's future."

The House Subcommittee will likely approve this bill tomorrow, with the full Committee slated to mark it up next week. After that, it remains unclear whether this bill will see floor action before the August recess. The Senate has not yet scheduled a markup of its version of the bill.

Ultimately, this bill represents an early stage of the appropriations process and will not become law in its current form. Before final action on FY 2027 appropriations bills can be completed, Congress and the Administration must reach agreement on overall spending levels for defense and non-defense discretionary programs, including education. To date, no such agreement has been reached. Additionally, the appropriations committee must determine how it will address an expected $15 billion shortfall in federal Pell Grant funding. This issue may be driving the particularly severe cuts proposed in the House Labor HHS Education spending bill.

Given these uncertainties and the looming midterm elections, Congress is widely expected to be unable to complete the appropriations process by September 30, the start of the federal fiscal year. As a result, lawmakers will likely need to pass one or more Continuing Resolutions to keep the federal government operating. A final decision on education spending may not occur until after the elections.

JNCL-NCLIS will continue to share updates as they become available.