Senators, including some Republicans, caution against dismantling the Department of Education

 


President Donald Trump could decide soon to take the first steps to eliminate the Department of Education, people familiar with the matter said, as he looks to dramatically shrink the size of the federal government.

White House officials have prepared an executive order directing Education Secretary Linda McMahon to begin the process of dismantling the agency, the sources said.

Trump has long signaled his intention to close the department, but fully eliminating it will require Congress to act, McMahon said during confirmation hearings earlier this year. She was confirmed Monday.

Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle have cautioned about the ramifications of eliminating the department. Here’s what they’re saying:

  • Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders, the ranking member on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, called Trump’s order to dismantle the Education Department a “disaster” for working class families and children with disabilities. “There are programs in the Department of Education which provide substantial amounts of help to low income and working class communities, communities where it is hard, where the tax base is very, very low,” the independent Vermont senator said. “Through the Department of Education, kids with disabilities — and there are millions of them in America — get the help that they need.”
  • Republican Sen. Susan Collins told reporters that she does not support eliminating the Education Department, pointing to critical programs for children with disabilities and those who come from low-income families. The Senator from Maine also argued that Trump does not have the authority to eliminate the department. “There are synergies that occur having them all in one department. There may be a case for spinning off some programs, there may be a case for downsizing the department, but those are decisions that the new secretary should make,” Collins said.
  • GOP Sen. Thom Tillis told reporters he learned in his experience in the North Carolina legislature and in a parent-teacher association that “the federal government has an outsized influence over controlling the classroom.” He said Trump is trying to return power to state and local governments, which he supports, and pointed to current “missed opportunities” for states to be “laboratories of education,” adding, “but they’ve got to be careful.” Asked if he thinks the Trump administration can dismantle the Education Department without congressional action, Tillis said he thinks “most of it is going to require statutory authority, but not all of it.”

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