House National Security, Department of State, and Related Programs Subcommittee bill funds ECA at $700.95 million

47 Presidential Admini...119 CongressAppropriations
Written By Adrienne Jacobs

The House National Security, Department of State, and Related Programs (formerly SFOPS) Subcommittee released its FY26 appropriations bill, and the proposed topline funding amount for the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) is $700,946,000. 

This amount is significantly higher than the 93% cut proposed in the President’s Budget Request and far more than what was anticipated from the House. This shows that in a political climate focused on sweeping cuts, support for ECA’s international exchange programs remains strong in Congress. 

The bill proposes a 22% cut to the Department of State budget as a whole, so it’s still damaging to U.S. diplomacy, and there are Members of Congress who will understandably be dissatisfied with it. You can read the bill, the respective statements and supplementary documents here: 

  • A summary of the bill is available here. 

  • Bill text is available here (ECA section on page 4). 

  • HAC majority press release is attached here. 

  • Democrats posted fact sheet here.  

  • HAC Democrats press release is attached here. 

For ECA, though, here’s what this means: the conversation about FY26 is completely new. The President’s Budget Request can be thrown out the window. There is still much more to learn about this bill, including toplines for each program. The subcommittee markup for this bill is tomorrow, Tuesday, July 15 at 11:00am.  

Adrienne Jacobs

Assistant Director and Head of Advocacy and Government Relations

Adrienne Jacobs joined the Alliance as Assistant Director and Head of Advocacy and Government Relations in 2024 after nearly seven years of work on the Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders at IREX. Prior to the Fellowship, Adrienne worked for two years on the Senate Budget Committee for then Ranking Member Senator Bernard Sanders. She excels at program and government relations, partnership building, and strategic planning, and is eager to use her combined experience and expertise in her role at the Alliance.

Adrienne has a bachelor’s in International Relations and Diplomacy from Schiller International University and a master’s in Peace Research and Security Policy from the University of Hamburg, both in Germany where she studied abroad.

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