On July 31, the Senate Appropriations Committee marked up and approved their FY26 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies funding bill in a bipartisan 26-3 vote. The spending package includes $1.25 billion for the AmeriCorps agency.
This mark maintains level funding for all AmeriCorps program accounts (including AmeriCorps State & National, VISTA, NCCC, AmeriCorps Seniors programs, Days of Service, and State Service Commission Support Grants). The Committee has reduced Salaries & Expenses by $10 million compared to enacted FY24 and FY25 levels. This is the funding used to support the agency’s staffing, information technology, and other core business operations.
The Senate’s bill includes several key provisions that aim to insulate the national service field from future disruptions to federal spending, including language that requires the agency to support staffing levels necessary to fulfill its statutory responsibilities and to allocate formula funds and make competitive grant awards in a timely fashion.
Specifically, the bill directs the AmeriCorps agency to:
- Ensure competitive grant NOFOs are published no later than January 1, 2026;
- Give state commissions their AmeriCorps State and National formula allocations no later than April 1, 2026;
- Provide states with their State Service Commission Support Grants and State Commission Investment Fund Grants no later than June 1, 2026;
- Make every effort to award funds for competitive grant programs no less than 60 days before the end of the fiscal year; and
- Award renewal and non-competing continuations prior to the end of their grant period.
There is also a new provision that gives the CEO the authority to give AmeriCorps education awards to members who were required by the agency to exit their position early due to a lapse in funding or premature termination of their program grant or agreement.
Lastly, the Committee has again included language that would give the agency flexibility to establish AmeriCorps service terms under 1,700 hours and encourages them to make improvements to Fixed Price Grants and the draw down formula – two reforms that Voices for National Service has been seeking for the past few years.
The House Appropriations Committee had been tentatively scheduled to take up the Labor-HHS bill this month, but that plan was dropped and the House left early for their August recess. The House Labor-HHS has not been rescheduled, but it could happen sometime in September.
AmeriCorps Agency Budget
| Accounts | FY25 Enacted | FY26 President’s Budget | FY26 Senate Mark |
| Program Operating Expenses | $975.53 M | $32.43 M | $975.53 M |
| AmeriCorps State and National | $557.1 M | $2.45 M | $557.1 M |
| AmeriCorps VISTA | $103.29 M | $7.13 M | $103.29 M |
| AmeriCorps NCCC | $37.73 M | $20.92 M | $37.73 M |
| AmeriCorps Foster Grandparent Program | $125.36 M | $122 K | $125.36 M |
| AmeriCorps Senior Companion Program | $56.45 M | $122 K | $56.45 M |
| AmeriCorps RSVP | $55.11 M | $122 K | $55.11 M |
| State Commission Support Grants | $19.54 M | $1.56 M | $19.54 M |
| Days of Service | $6.15 M | $0 | $6.15 M |
| Volunteer Generation Fund | $8.56 M | $0 | $8.56 M |
| Evaluation | $6.25 M | $0 | $6.25 M |
| National Service Trust | $180 M | $0 | $180 M |
| Salaries & Expenses | $99.69 M | $69.63 M | $89.69 M |
| Office of Inspector General | $7.6 M | $5.62 M | $7.6 M |
| Agency Total | $1.262 B | $107.7 M | $1.252 B |
Additional Resources:
- Voices’ Statement on the Senate FY26 Appropriations Bill
- For all information on the Senate’s bill, please see here for the majority press release, minority press release, summary of the bill, bill text, bill report, and adopted amendments.