Today we got our first peek of the House of Representatives FY 2026 Department of Labor (and NIOSH) budget proposal. We don’t have all of the information for what line items were cut, but the parts we can see of OSHA and MSHA’s budget (top lines and OSHA state plans), indicate that the House proposal — for both OSHA and MSHA — duplicate Trump’s disastrous budget request.
There is better news for NIOSH, however, which has “only” a 14% cut (vs the 80% cut proposed by Trump.) It’s not clear at this point which NIOSH programs will be cut.
The President’s budget had proposed an $50 million (or 8% cut) overall in OSHA’s budget, down from a total of $632.3 million to $582.4 million. His budget also proposed a 24% cut in OSHA’s standards budget, a 9.7% in the enforcement budget and the elimination of the Susan Harwood Worker Training Grant Program. There would be a 13% cut to enforcement staff and ten thousand fewer workplace inspections next year.
The Senate budget bill, you may remember, proposed flat funding for OSHA, MSHA and NIOSH from the FY 2025 bill — still a slight cut, given inflation.
Both the House and the Senate will need to come to some agreement before sending the bill to the White House for Trump signature. The end of the fiscal year is September 30th, and discussions over a Continuing Resolution are underway to avoid a government shutdown.
Kissing His Ass
Republicans claim that the House bill — which covers the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services and Education budgets, –provides “for critical services in healthcare, workforce development, and education – all while eliminating waste and cutting out politically motivated programs being pushed by non-elected bureaucrats. ”
Aside from the real damage contained in the bill, the Republican cult never misses an opportunity to kiss the President’s rear end: changing the name of “AmeriCorps” to “America First Grants,” and changing the name of Pell Grants to “Trump Grants.”
Democrats pointed out that in addition to the budget cuts, the Republican bill eliminates the Women’s Bureau, the Bureau of International Labor Affairs (ILAB) as well as the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs which enforced laws prohibiting federal contractors from discriminating in their employment practices based on race, religion, sex, disability, veteran status, or other protected characteristics . Funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting is eliminated and the bill cuts about one-third of the National Labor Relations Board’s budget.
A hearing will be held on the bill today at 5:00. You can watch here.