PlainBillCongress, translated.Legislation. Context. Public interest.Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 541.
Congressional Research Service
Version 25 · Reported to Senate · Aug 4, 2026
This bill prohibits the Department of Education (ED) from transferring specified offices and functions to other federal agencies.
Specifically, the bill prohibits ED from entering into or carrying out interagency agreements related to the following four offices: the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, the Office of Postsecondary Education, the Office of Indian Education, and the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education.
This prohibition applies to the transfer of functions such as administering or operating programs, making grants, carrying out technical assistance, enforcing rights and requirements (e.g., data collection requirements), conducting administrative and oversight functions, and monitoring grantees.
Showing the opening paragraphs of the official summary.
Additionally, ED may not transfer a function or program of one of the four offices to another ED office and then subsequently enter into an interagency agreement related to the function or program.
The bill does not apply to agreements in effect on February 1, 2025, or renewals with substantially similar terms.
ED must, within 14 days of the bill's enactment and on a quarterly basis, provide to Congress (and publish on its website) a report and cost analysis for each interagency agreement entered into on or after February 1, 2025. ED may not use specified FY2026 or FY2027 funds for travel expenses unless ED provides this required information.
(As of July 30, 2026, ED has entered into 14 interagency agreements to transfer functions of ED to other federal agencies, including the ED offices listed in the bill.)
People & committees
Sen. Kaine, Tim [D-VA] · D–VA
Legislative record
A procedural vote is different from passage. Passage in one chamber does not establish enactment. Explore the glossary.
Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 541.
Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. Reported by Senator Cassidy with an amendment. Without written report.
Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. Reported by Senator Cassidy with an amendment. Without written report.
Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. Ordered to be reported with an amendment favorably.
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
Introduced in Senate
Primary sources
Text links open the official source. We currently store references to these documents.
Source last updated: Sep 30, 2026. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
AI Conversation Starters
Choose a perspective, copy a prompt, and paste it into your preferred AI. Each prompt includes the bill version and available official source links, and asks for counterarguments as well as supporting evidence.
Analyze S.5046 as objectively as possible. Explain its main provisions, who would be affected, possible benefits and harms, implementation, exceptions, and uncertainties. Present the strongest arguments for and against it, and identify evidence needed to assess its public impact.
Examine S.5046 through a progressive lens, focusing on fairness, access, economic inequality, and effects on vulnerable communities. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and distinguish stated goals from demonstrated outcomes.
Examine S.5046 through a conservative lens, focusing on fiscal responsibility, institutional stability, federalism, and the scope of government. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and any provisions that challenge this perspective.
Examine S.5046 through a civil-liberties and limited-government lens. Consider individual rights, privacy, voluntary choice, accountability, and government power. Explain tradeoffs, possible safeguards, and the strongest counterarguments without assuming the proposal is beneficial or harmful.