Senators from both parties challenged Education Secretary Linda McMahon about her agency’s detailed fiscal 2026 budget proposal Tuesday, with a focus on cuts to the bipartisan federal TRIO programs.

Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins, R-Maine, who co-chairs the TRIO Caucus, said at a Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations Subcommittee hearing that she “strongly disagree(s)” with the proposal to cut the collection of federal outreach student services programs aimed at supporting low-income and first-generation students in attaining higher education opportunities.

“From my experience in Maine, I have seen the lives of countless first-generation and low-income students, not only in Maine, but across the country, who will often face barriers to accessing a college education, changed by th

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