Democratic U.S. Reps. Gabe Amo and Seth Magaziner of Rhode Island pressed the House Committee on Appropriations Tuesday to reject a provision in one of its fiscal year 2026 budget proposals that would rename the new Workforce Pell Grants to “Trump Grants.”
Workforce Pell Grants are a new category of Pell Grants, the federal government’s need-based financial aid program for college undergraduates. After years of bipartisan efforts to institute the grants for short-term training that prepares students for specific, high-skilled industries, the Workforce Pell grants were signed into law via President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB) in July.
A provision in the House appropriations bill introduced on Sept. 11 — one that covers the upcoming fiscal year’s budgets for the U.S. Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education — would see the new grants renamed before they go into effect on July 1, 2026.
The provision would not affect traditional Pell Grants, and the U.S. Senate’s equivalent of the House Appropriations bill lacks the “Trump Grants” provision.
In a letter to Appropriations leadership, Amo and Magaziner argued the new nickname would erase the legacy of the late U.S. Sen. Claiborne Pell, a Rhode Island Democrat and the namesake of the broader federal Pell Grant program which is often credited with scaffolding modern financial aid.
“Preserving Senator Pell’s name on the program is not just about honoring the past, it is about protecting a future where every student, regardless of background, has the chance to dream big and achieve more,” the congressmen wrote. “To attempt to erase Senator Pell’s name from a program that has uplifted generations and replace it with a President whose record on education is defined by cuts and dismantlement is a profound insult to that legacy.”
Pell Grants began in 1972 when Pell led the charge to reform the Higher Education Act of 1965 and create Basic Educational Opportunity Grants, which were renamed in Pell’s honor in 1980. Pell Grants don’t require repayment and have a limited eligibility window.
The new workforce grants carry the same conditions as other Pell offerings, and students cannot receive regular and workforce grants at the same time. The workforce grants — whose genesis goes back to 2014 with similar proposals in the JOBS Act by former Louisiana Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu — are designed to subsidize students enrolled in accredited career-oriented programs that last between eight and 15 weeks. The OBBB defines eligible programs as ones offering instruction in “high-skill, high-wage” jobs or “in-demand industry sectors or occupations.”
Amo and Magaziner also took aim at the president’s venture into higher education, Trump University, which was open from 2005 to 2011 and was not an accredited university.
“It was not a university, it was not accredited, and it ultimately resulted in a $25 million settlement to resolve fraud claims brought by thousands of students who were misled by President Trump,” Amo and Magaziner wrote, adding that Trump’s higher ed effort “raise[s] questions about the appropriateness of associating the Trump name with a federal grant program designed to help working-class Americans achieve their higher education dreams.”
“These grants should remain rooted in the legacy of Senator Pell, whose name symbolizes opportunity, integrity and the belief that education is the cornerstone of a strong democracy,” Amo and Magaziner wrote.
This story was originally published by the Rhode Island Current.
