Congress Rejects OSHA & MSHA Cuts

The Senate and House of Representatives agreed this week on an FY 2026 appropriations bill that rejected President Trump’s proposal to significantly slash the budgets of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the Mine Safety and Health Administration.

The final OSHA appropriation was slightly down from FY 2025, a .5% cut from $632,309 million to $629,309 million. The President had originally requested an 8% overall cut from FY 2025 and a 12.3% reduction in OSHA staff. The House had originally copied the President’s proposals while the Senate had proposed full funding.

The biggest decreases were a 13% cut in Whistleblower Protection and a 12% cut in Standards. The Whistleblower budget returned to the lower FY 2024 levels, while standards is funded at the lowest level since FY 2021 . The cut in the standards budget — along with the agencies deregulatory activities — make it even less likely that OSHA will be able to issue even a weakened version of a heat standard before the end of the Trump administration.

Also notable were Enforcement which stayed the same as last year, and a small 2% cut in Federal Compliance Assistance. The Compliance Assistance cut, matched with the full Enforcement budget was interesting considering the emphasis that Republicans put on “cooperative” compliance assistance over “confrontational” enforcement.

State plans and the Onsite Consultation Program (State Compliance Assistance) were slightly increased over FY 2025 to bring them back to the FY 2024 level after they were cut in 2025.

The biggest win was the survival of the Susan Harwood Worker Training Grant program at the same budget level as FY 2025 and FY 2024. Republicans have attempted to eliminate the Harwood program for the past twenty-five years.

The budget for MSHA remains the same as FY 2025 after Trump had originally proposed a 10% cut, mostly in Standards and Education.

NIOSH, as we reported earlier, survives with slight increases in Mining Research and the National Firefighter Registry.   The agency had previously been slated for virtual elimination by DOGE.

Finally, the Chemical Safety Board, also slated for elimination by the White House, has survived yet again with full funding, although there are only two of five Board members, leaving the agency without a quorum.

What It Means

Considering the major cuts originally envisioned by the White House and House of Representatives, the final FY 2026 budget is a major victory. But….

First, as we saw last year, OMB Director Russel Vought considers Congressional appropriations as maximum budget limits, with the President having the authority to “impound” — or not spend — all of the money that Congress has appropriated. And the Republican-run Congress, which has sold its manhood to Trump, has barely raised an objection.  The White House also proposed last year, and Republicans in Congress meekly accepted, a recission (or cancellation) of appropriated funding.

In other words, just because Congress has passed adequate funding for next year doesn’t mean the President will choose to spend it.  Should the Democrats take control of the House (or even the House and the Senate) in November, we will be well into FY 2027 by the time the next Congress takes office.

Second, even a flat OSHA budget is actually a budget cut when factoring in inflation and meager 1% federal pay increase next year. OSHA is already a tiny agency with an enormous mandate: to assure the safety and health of 161 million workers in 11.8 million workplaces under OSHA’s jurisdiction. The OSHA budget only amounts to $3.92 to protect each worker and if OSHA were to inspect every workplace in the country just once, it would take 185 years. In 2024, there was only one inspector for every 84,937 workers.

Even with this great budget victory, the health and safety outlook will only promises to get worse for American workers.

FY 2026 FINAL OSHA BUDGET (in thousands of dollars)