Appropriations subcommittee presses DOT on $26.7 billion FY26 request, staffing cuts and grant-condition rollbacks

The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development and Related Agencies heard testimony on the Department of Transportation’s fiscal 2026 discretionary request of $26,700,000,000 and raised questions about proposed staffing reductions and changes to grant conditions.

The request the department submitted includes increases the administration highlighted — $1,200,000,000 for air traffic modernization and operations, $596,000,000 for ports and shipyards, $400,000,000 for freight rail safety and $770,000,000 for multimodal freight expansion — alongside, the subcommittee was told, about $1,400,000,000 in cuts at DOT that have not been fully explained in the skinny budget. “Article 1 of the Constitution is clear,” a committee chair said, urging the department to preserve congressional prerogatives on appropriations when restructuring programs.

Why this matters: committee members said they cannot evaluate DOT’s request in isolation because THUD (Transportation, Housing and Urban Development) funding decisions interact across housing and transportation priorities and because safety agencies and ongoing investments depend on stable staffing and predictable grant delivery.

Secretary Sean Duffy described early actions in the administration to reduce what he called inefficient spending and to review grants announced under the prior administration. He told the subcommittee the department has “in the president’s hundred plus days … pushed forward with the approval of 405 grants totaling $4,900,000,000” and said DOT has identified roughly $9,500,000,000 in savings from projects it deemed tied to social-justice or climate requirements or otherwise inefficient. Duffy also said the department inherited “an unprecedented backlog of 3,200 awards” that still require finalized grant agreements and pledged to increase the pace of completing agreements.

Members pressed the secretary about workforce reductions. The hearing record shows several figures discussed: the committee cited reports of about 3,000 probationary employee dismissals and said that, with buyouts, DOT staffing could decline roughly 12% since January; the secretary disputed portrayals that safety-critical positions have been eliminated and said DOT has “preserved all of our safety-critical mission positions, including air traffic controllers.” He added that the administration is offering incentives to retain experienced employees and that, if necessary, DOT would rehire to maintain mission capacity.

Committee members also focused on the administration’s rollback of certain grant conditions described as climate and social-justice requirements. Representative Clyburn argued these provisions reflected long-standing efforts to address historic injustices in project siting and procurement; Secretary Duffy responded that some equity- and climate-related requirements he reviewed were increasing project costs and that he has asked staff to examine relevant legal constraints, including recent Supreme Court rulings cited during the hearing.

Discussion vs. decision: the hearing produced questions, commitments to follow up, and a pledge from DOT to share proposed reorganization plans with the committee when completed. There were no formal committee votes or agency decisions recorded during the hearing.

What’s next: members repeatedly requested more granular explanation of the cited $1.4 billion in cuts and the $4.1 billion reduction to IIJA FY26 advance appropriations that appears in the skinny budget, and they asked DOT to provide the committee with reprogramming or reorganization plans for congressional review.