What a difference a year makes. 2025 saw numerous OSHA area offices targeted (unsuccessfully) for shutdowns by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), rumors of a dramatic OSHA reorganization downsizing, and the virtual elimination of NIOSH due to draconian cuts by the Department of Health and Human Services.

The beginning of 2026 shows a much different landscape — and how hard it is to dismantle the “deep state” federal establishment. Exhibit A: The Department of Education, which conservatives have sought to eliminate since the Reagan years, was given a $79 billion budget for FY2026 by Congress, a slight increase from FY25.

The final OSHA funding bill for FY 2026 is slightly down from FY 2025, a meager .5% cut from $632,309 million to $629,309 million. The Trump administration had proposed an 8% overall cut from FY 2025 and a 12.3% reduction in OSHA staff.

The biggest blow in the final funding tally was a 12% cut in standards. The lower standards-setting budget along with the agency’s deregulatory activities make it less likely that OSHA will issue even a weakened version of a heat standard before the end of the Trump administration, says former OSHA senior leader Jordan Barab in his Confined Space newsletter.

In somewhat of a surprise, enforcement spending remains the same as last year, and there is a small 2% cut in compliance assistance. As Barab explains, Republicans traditionally favor voluntary compliance assistance over high-publicity enforcement. This could be a nod to Congressional Republicans extending an olive branch to organized labor and labor’s voting base.

Barab also notes that a flat OSHA budget is really a budget cut when factoring in inflation and a flinty 1% federal pay increase next year.

Along similar lines, the budget for MSHA remains the same as FY 2025 after the administration originally proposed a 10% cut.

NIOSH, previously been slated for virtual elimination by DOGE, saw a complete reversal when HHS on January 13 announced the mass reinstatement of more than 600 NIOSH employees.

Still, after ten months of uncertainty and inaction, rebuilding NIOSH will not be easy. Major research projects have been put on hold and won’t be easily resumed. Many former NIOSH staff have moved on to other jobs.

Finally, the Chemical Safety Board, which was targeted for elimination for the fifth time by Trump administrations 1.0 and 2.0, has survived yet again with full funding. Congress approved $14 million in funding for the CSB. The board has fewer than 50 employees and has issued more than 1,000 safety recommendations since it began in 1998. CSB Chair Steve Owens defended the agency in a video last year, stating that CSB “more than pays for itself in costs saved by preventing serious chemical incidents.”

Even with what Barab calls “this great budget victory,” the outlook for OSHA standards-setting is dim and for NIOSH research and other initiatives very much up in the air.