NIOSH, Other OEHS Agencies Funded for Fiscal Year 2026
On Feb. 3, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R.7148, which appropriated funds for the Department of Labor (DOL), the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and several other departments, agencies, and programs through the remainder of fiscal year 2026. Federal agencies funded by this bill included NIOSH, OSHA, MSHA, and the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.
NIOSH received $366.8 million, a modest increase over the $362.8 million allotted to the agency in FY 2025 and considerably more than the $73 million sought by President Trump’s FY 2026 budget request for HHS (PDF). A previous announcement by HHS said that the department would combine several agencies, including NIOSH, to create a new Administration for a Healthy America. The House budget bill appropriates no funds for an entity by this name. The funding increase, along with the reinstatement of hundreds of NIOSH employees, continues a shift in the agency’s fortunes since April 2025, when 90 percent of its staff received reduction-in-force notices.
The $629.3 million appropriated for OSHA for FY 2026 was slightly less than the $632.3 million received by the agency in FY 2025. However, OSHA’s FY 2026 funding was likewise markedly higher than the $582.4 million sought by the president’s DOL budget request (PDF).
MSHA’s funding, at $387.8 million, remained flat compared to 2025 levels. The Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission, an independent agency that resolves contested citations and penalties issued by OSHA to U.S. employers, received $14.4 million, slightly less than FY 2025’s $15.4 million.
Another OEHS-related agency, the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB), was funded not through H.R.7148 but a separate budget bill passed Jan. 23, which also funded the Department of the Interior and EPA. The $14 million appropriated for CSB under H.R.6983 is notable since the president’s budget proposal had sought to eliminate the agency. With only a little less than the $14.4 million received in FY 2025, CSB may continue its mission of investigating major chemical accidents and issuing safety recommendations throughout the rest of FY 2026, which ends Sept. 30.
The House and Senate appropriations bills for FY 2026 may be accessed via Congress.gov. Documents outlining presidential budget requests for the last several decades are available through GovInfo.