Congress earmarks $5M for TMF in fiscal 2026 funding bills
Calls on Congress to put money into the Technology Modernization Fund may have been answered — albeit at much lower levels than what the General Services Administration-run funding vehicle for agency IT projects has been accustomed to.
Senate and House Appropriations Committee lawmakers released a package of conferenced bills Sunday to fund several federal agencies through the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, including GSA. Tucked into the 488-page agreement was a note that $5 million would be provided to the TMF, “to remain available until expended.”
The appropriations bills must still be passed by both chambers of Congress and signed by the president before the funding can take effect.
The potential funding comes as the TMF expired last month for the first time since it was created in 2017, freezing nearly $200 million in funding for agency technology projects. The program has enjoyed bipartisan support since its launch nearly a decade ago: former Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., was a staunch advocate for the program until his death from cancer last year, while Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., has led a sustained push for TMF’s reauthorization.
The fund has similarly strong backing from civic technologists and industry groups, and a spokesperson for the House Oversight Committee told FedScoop last month that its reauthorization was a “high priority” that the Office of Management and Budget also supported. Nevertheless, efforts to get TMF funded through the fiscal 2026 National Defense Authorization Act didn’t pan out, leaving the program out in the cold.
As such, if the appropriations bill is passed in the near term with the TMF still lacking a new authorization, the funding would be considered “unauthorized” — a common occurrence in modern government funding, with nearly a third of discretionary appropriations in fiscal 2025 going to programs whose authorization had expired, according to the Congressional Budget Office. Press offices for congressional appropriators didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
The $5 million congressional appropriators carved out for the TMF is a far cry from what the fund had enjoyed since 2021, when President Joe Biden’s American Rescue Plan injected the program with $1 billion. The fund announced last month that it would dole out $28 million to the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration for AI and modernization projects.
The Trump administration has eyed a different approach to keeping the lights on, however, proposing in a 2026 budget justification last year a new model that would allow the TMF to pull up to $100 million from other agencies each fiscal year. Instead of requests for new discretionary funding, the administration believed the TMF could replenish its coffers with unused money transferred from agencies.
Jordan Burris, former chief of staff to the Office of the Federal Chief Information Officer during the first Trump and Biden administrations, told FedScoop last month that the TMF “isn’t an optional experiment.”
“It’s the government’s only scalable way to upgrade the digital systems that deliver benefits, defend our networks, and keep core public services running,” he said.
Beyond the TMF, lawmakers agreed to $1.4 million in funding for the GSA’s Office of Technology Policy and Initiatives under its Office of Government-wide Policy. Those dollars would go toward “accessible federal technology” as required by Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.
“As the Nation’s population ages, there will be more people with disabilities who rely on accessibility tools to access government resources,” the bill text notes. “This underscores the importance of making Federal websites, apps, kiosks, and other technology accessible in the coming decades.”
The GSA would be tasked with continuing to provide technical assistance to agencies’ efforts in complying with federal law, in addition to developing tools and trainings, and delivering annual governmentwide assessments to Congress on Section 508 compliance.
