Appropriations Committee FY26 Bill Proposes Slimmer DOL, EBSA Budgets 

The House Appropriations Committee’s proposed its fiscal year 2026 bill that would shrink the budgets of the Department of Labor and Employee Benefits Security Administration. 

The fiscal 2026 spending bill would reduce EBSA’s budget to $181 million, as the agency requested in June, down 5.2% from $191 million in fiscal 2025. The Senate version of the bill, which advanced out of committee on July 31, would leave the agency’s funding untouched.  

The cuts leave the agency that administers, regulates and enforces the provisions of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act struggling for already– reduced resources. 

A 2023 report by the Government Accountability Office found that EBSA faced budget constraints as its responsibilities grew—despite having had a flat budget for nearly a decade—with passage of the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022. 

Meanwhile, the subcommittee’s draft appropriations bill also slashed the budget for the Department of Labor as a whole, as  President Donald Trump’s budget proposal sought to do in May. According to a detailed summary of the bill, the DOL would have a $9.6 billion budget in fiscal 2026, down $4 billion or 28% from fiscal 2025.  

The proposal comes as Congress must act to fund the federal government before October 1, or the government will shut down.  

The Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Subcommittee will mark up the bill Tuesday afternoon.