Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, 2026

The Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, 2026 sets the money Congress spends running its own operations for the budget year ending September 30, 2026. It provides about $1.98 billion for House salaries and expenses, $850 million for Members' office allowances, $687 million for Capitol Police salaries, and hundreds of millions more for the Library of Congress, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the Architect of the Capitol, and the Government Publishing Office. The bill pays $174,000 each to the heirs or widows of three recently deceased Representatives, and funds intern pay, the Office of Congressional Workplace Rights, and the National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled. Beyond the dollar amounts, it carries several policy riders: it blocks funds for buying Chinese-linked information technology, telecommunications equipment, drones, and vehicles; it bars money for diversity, equity, and inclusion training that promotes race- or sex-based superiority ideas; and it prohibits federal action against people who act on a belief that marriage is between one man and one woman. Other provisions freeze a cost-of-living raise for Members of Congress, direct the CBO to spend money making its cost estimates more transparent and its data more available to the public, stop the GAO from suing to enforce budget-impoundment law unless Congress passes a resolution authorizing it, and remove a requirement that the House buy alternative-fuel vehicles. Any leftover Member office allowances would be sent to the Treasury for deficit or debt reduction.