H.R. 7894, Truman Scholarship Clean House Act

H.R. 7894 would, 90 days after enactment, dissolve the existing board of the Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation, which provides scholarships to students interested in pursuing a career in public service, and would require new board members to be selected as soon as practicable. The bill would establish statutory requirements for scholarship eligibility and specify grounds for terminating or requiring a grant to be repaid. The bill also would establish transparency requirements for the foundation, such as posting press releases, program announcements, and scholar biographies on a publicly available website.

Spending by the foundation comes from appropriated amounts and from interest earned on its trust fund. Because that interest can be spent without further appropriation, it is classified in the budget as direct spending. As a result, changes to foundation activities can affect both direct spending and spending subject to appropriation.

CBO expects that replacing the board could temporarily decrease spending by delaying some of the foundation’s activities, including awarding scholarships, and by reducing the expenses of current board members. Conversely, appointing new members, altering procedures for scholarship eligibility and termination, and complying with transparency requirements would increase administrative costs.

On that basis, CBO estimates that, on net, implementing H.R. 7894 would increase direct spending by less than $500,000 over the 2026-2036 period and increase spending subject to appropriation by the same amount over the 2026-2031 period.

The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Leah Koestner. The estimate was reviewed by Chad Chirico, Director of Budget Analysis.