Tribal school programs move to Interior Department.
H.R. 9604 — Less Bureaucracy, Better Tribal Education Act · Filed by Burgess Owens (R-UT) · 1 cosponsor · Introduced Jul 9, 2026 · Reported out
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What it does
This bill moves 18 tribal school and job training programs. They go from the Department of School to the Department of the Interior. The programs include K-12 grants, language classes, career training, and help for tribal colleges. The Office of Management and Budget must keep the number of federal workers the same. The Department of School must talk with tribes before the move.
Who it affects
Tribal students, Alaska Native students, and Native Hawaiian students use these programs. Tribal colleges and schools that run language and job training programs will work with Interior instead. Tribes that run school programs will report to a new department.
One thing to notice
Tribes must be talked with, but only after Congress passes the law. Tribes have no power to stop the move or shape it before it starts.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
1 cosponsor: 1 Republicans.
- Jul 9, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Jul 9, 2026 — Referred to House Committee on Education and Workforce · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Education and Workforce”
- Jul 15, 2026 — Markup held in committee · Congress.gov: “Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held”
- Jul 15, 2026 — Reported out of committee · Congress.gov: “Ordered to be Reported (Amended) by the Yeas and Nays: 20 - 15”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Words to know
- federal workers — people who work for the U.S. government
- tribal colleges — schools owned and run by Native American tribes
- talk with tribes — ask tribes what they think before making a decision
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (13,771 characters) on Jul 25, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 14,522 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
As of — page rendered 2026-09-22.
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