Appropriations subcommittee advances FY26 legislative branch bill amid dispute over GAO cuts and security funding

The House Appropriations Subcommittee on the Legislative Branch voted to favorably report its fiscal year 2026 legislative branch appropriations bill after a contentious markup in which members sharply disagreed over funding levels for the Government Accountability Office and security-related reimbursements.

Chairman David Valadao introduced the subcommittee bill and described it as “responsible funding decreases where appropriate,” saying the measure provides $5,000,000,000 for the legislative branch — a reduction from the prior enacted level. The motion to report the bill to the full committee was made by Mr. Moore and carried on a recorded vote of 6 ayes to 4 noes.

The markup centered on several contested provisions. Ranking Member Adriano Espaillat objected to what he described as large cuts to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) and to reductions affecting the Library of Congress and House operations. “I cannot in good conscience support this bill,” Espaillat said, arguing the GAO’s work identifying improper payments and other inefficiencies would be undercut by the cuts discussed in the markup. Espaillat and other Democrats cited an approximately 48% reduction to GAO funding mentioned during the hearing and said that cut would cause job losses and reduce oversight capacity.

Other members and witnesses stressed security and member protections. Subcommittee members and the full committee chairman, Tom Cole, repeatedly referred to recent political violence and said the bill includes increased resources for the House Sergeant at Arms and the United States Capitol Police and continues funding for members’ security when they are away from the Capitol. Valadao said the Sergeant at Arms was developing proposals for additional member security measures and that the subcommittee expected to review those measures.

Democrats pressed for a larger mutual-aid reimbursement fund. Espaillat and other members said the bill does not fully fund the US Capitol Police’s mutual-aid reimbursement requests to compensate local law enforcement that assisted during events including Jan. 6 and more recent incidents. The ranking member and other Democrats also criticized a roughly 10% reduction to the Library of Congress and a cut reported to the House’s maintenance, care and operations funding of about 15% below fiscal 2025 levels.

Representative Steny Hoyer, speaking against the bill, said cutting congressional oversight resources would weaken the institution and its ability to hold the executive branch to account. “By backing this legislation, my colleagues across the aisle willfully hand [the administration] more authority over the legislative branch,” Hoyer said, urging members to oppose the measure.

The subcommittee agreed to a recorded roll call after the voice vote; the clerk recorded votes showing Rep. Adriano Espaillat, Rep. Steny Hoyer, Rep. Mike Quigley and Rep. Rosa DeLauro voting no, and members including Mr. Laloda, Miss Malloy, Mr. Moore, Mr. Strong, Chairman Valadao and Chairman Cole voting yes. The clerk announced “the ayes are 6, the noes are 4,” and the motion was reported favorably to the full committee. The subcommittee also granted unanimous consent for staff to make technical and conforming changes to the bill and report.

The chair said copies of the bill and report with technical and conforming changes would be delivered to full committee members’ offices no later than three business days before the full committee meeting. The subcommittee adjourned after completing the markup.

The markup record shows the proceeding focused on the single appropriations measure; there were no amendments adopted on the floor of the subcommittee during this session and no formal directives to add new funding beyond the bill text were adopted in the markup.