# 119-s-3433: PELL Act

119-s-3433, PELL Act, is a 119th Congress bill sponsored by Sen. Banks, Jim [R-IN] (R-IN); status introduced; PRIA reads it as touching household money (as of 2026-04-21).

- Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-3433
- As of: 2026-04-21
- Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts.

## Facts
- Bill: 119-s-3433
- Congress: 119
- Title: PELL Act
- Status: introduced
- Introduced: 2025-12-11
- Sponsor: Sen. Banks, Jim [R-IN] (R-IN)
- Cosponsors: 0
- Policy area: Education
- Touches household money: yes
- Last recorded action: 2026-04-21

## Summary

**This bill refocuses federal higher education and research funding toward a _Pell‑serving, race‑neutral funding model_.** It bars consideration of race or ethnicity in awarding federal higher education and research grants and retools many programs to prioritize institutions that serve large numbers of Federal Pell Grant recipients. - Students and families: Creates an additional Pell Grant funding mechanism starting award year 2028-2029 that ties supplemental funding to an appropriation divided by the number of Pell‑eligible students. The supplemental amount is inflation adjusted by the chained CPI and remains available for two years. - Minority‑serving institutions, HBCUs, and TCUs: Repeals or reconstitutes multiple MSI authorities including Title V and HEA sections 317–320, replaces MSI labels with Pell‑serving criteria, and sets new annual caps for certain HBCU and TCU allocations at $85 million and $30 million. - Research and agencies: Imposes race‑neutral award rules across R&D and innovation programs and the National Science Foundation. Agencies must not consider racial or ethnic composition but must give priority to applicants from institutions that serve substantial numbers of Pell Grant recipients.

## Provisions PRIA read

- Annual HBCU and TCU grants: benefit, high. This bill would set aside $85,000,000 each fiscal year for certain HBCU grants and $30,000,000 each fiscal year for other eligible institutions. Those amounts would be treated as the Part B appropriation for allotment rules. The $85 million must prioritize listed capacity-building activities and th…
- Extra Pell grants starting 2028: benefit, medium. This bill would create an extra per-student Pell grant starting in award year 2028–2029. The extra amount each year would equal the annual appropriation divided by the Secretary's estimate of Pell-eligible students. The first-year appropriation would be set by OMB as the bill's estimated savings, a…
- Research grants race-neutral and Pell-focused: mixed, medium. This bill would repeal many minority-serving institution grant authorities, including HEA sections 317–320 and Title V, and others like Section 1419B and certain agricultural Hispanic‑serving grants. It would recast science and research programs to prioritize institutions that serve substantial num…

## Related bills

- 119-s-2142: GOLDEN DOME Act of 2025
- 119-s-4952: Protecting American Taxpayers Act
- 119-s-4378: Protecting American Taxpayers Act
- 119-s-1748: Kids Online Safety Act
- 119-s-535: Respect Parents’ Childcare Choices Act
- 119-s-4983: Harry Reid Immigration Stabilization Act

## Sources
- [119-s-3433 on Congress.gov](https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/3433)

## Related
- [119-s-2142: GOLDEN DOME Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-2142)
- [119-s-4952: Protecting American Taxpayers Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-4952)
- [119-s-4378: Protecting American Taxpayers Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-4378)
- [119-s-1748: Kids Online Safety Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-1748)
- [119-s-535: Respect Parents’ Childcare Choices Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-535)
- [119-s-4983: Harry Reid Immigration Stabilization Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-4983)
- [All bills in Congress](https://policyrisk.com/legislation)

Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-3433 (as of 2026-04-21).