Congress Passes Tax/Health Bill with School Vouchers and Cuts to Student Loans

After overnight sessions in the House and Senate this week, today Congress narrowly passed H.R. 1, the budget reconciliation bill that has been the focus of debate for months. In the Senate, a 50/50 tied vote was broken by Vice President J.D. Vance. In the House, the bill passed by a four-vote margin, 218/214. The multitrillion-dollar tax and spending package will deliver on President Trump’s campaign promises to extend the tax cuts enacted in 2017 and steer more funding to the military, immigration enforcement, and border security. Among its various provisions, the bill includes a version of the Educational Choice for Children Act—a new federal voucher initiative that lacks protections for students with disabilities. CEC has consistently and actively opposed this measure.  

To partially offset the cost of the package, the bill proposes cutting approximately $1 trillion from Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as food stamps. These cuts would change eligibility criteria and disrupt how states finance these programs, potentially affecting early intervention services and school-based programs that rely on Medicaid funding, such as IDEA Part C and K–12 education. Additionally, the bill reduces education funding by $300 billion through changes to Pell Grant eligibility, the elimination of federally subsidized student loans, and the termination of loan deferment options for individuals facing unemployment or economic hardship. The legislation now heads to the President’s desk for signature.