Congressional appropriators released a bipartisan spending proposal that would preserve Department of Education programs and maintain or increase funding for research agencies, signaling a clear rebuke of the Trump administration’s push to slash education and NIH budgets. The bicameral bill would allocate about $79 billion in discretionary funding to the Education Department and bars caps on NIH indirect-cost rates, keeping Pell, TRIO and other access programs intact. Lawmakers framed the package as a corrective to proposed unilateral cuts and agency reorganizations from the administration. The proposal preserves TRIO, FSEOG and Gear Up funding at roughly 2025 levels and secures Federal Work-Study and other student support programs. Appropriators also pushed back against efforts to limit universities’ overhead recovery on federal research grants. For higher ed leaders, the move reduces near-term budget shock risk but leaves policy uncertainty unresolved: the bill does not wholly prevent the administration from pursuing program transfers or other structural changes. Institutions heavily exposed to federal research dollars and student-aid flows will watch final floor votes and the president’s response closely.