The Senate Appropriations Committee praises Trump’s cuts to education programs

WASHINGTON – U.S. senators on the other side pushed back Tuesday against President Donald Trump’s proposal to cut funding for programs for disadvantaged students.

Education Secretary Linda McMahon defended these and other cuts to her agency outlined in Trump’s speech Budget request for fiscal year 2027which provides $75.7 billion in up-to-date discretionary budget authority for the department, which would represent a reduction of $3.2 billion, or 4.1%, from fiscal year 2026 levels.

The administration has taken major steps to dismantle the 46-year-old Department of Education as part of the president’s push to send education “back to the states.” These efforts continue even though much of the funding and oversight of schools already occurs at the state and local levels.

“We have been clear: shifting authority back to the states will not come at the expense of core federal programs (and) support, many of which predate the department itself,” McMahon told lawmakers at the Senate Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies Subcommittee hearing.

The panel shares responsibility for Education Department spending with the corresponding subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee. The president’s budget request is generally considered the starting point for negotiations, but Congress is responsible for deciding federal spending.

Bipartisan support for TRIO

Republican and Democratic senators particularly criticized the administration’s proposal to eliminate the federal TRIO programs in fiscal year 2027.

The federal TRIO programs — funded at $1.19 billion this fiscal year — lend a hand groups including low-income students, first-generation college students, people with disabilities and veterans.

Sen. Susan Collins, chairwoman of the full Senate Appropriations Committee, said she opposed the president’s proposal to eliminate TRIO, noting that these programs “have transformed the lives of countless first-generation and low-income students in Maine and across the country.”

The Maine Republican added that TRIO “enjoys strong support and has made a huge difference in the lives of children.”

Arkansas Republican Senator John Boozman also emphasized his support for TRIO, noting that these programs in his state “represented a game-changer in allowing low-income and first-generation students not only to access higher education, but to succeed once they got there.”

Sen. Jeff Merkley was the first in his family to attend college and said he came from a “very blue-collar, frontier, homestead, lumberjack background.”

The Oregon Democrat said that from that perspective, he believes that “conscious programs that help people bridge the cultural gap that exists between working-class kids like me and the college world that you have little exposure to are enormously valuable in America, and the statistics of these programs are pretty darn impressive.”

The secretary told the panel that while there are “many cases where the TRIO program has been very useful…as we look across the country at how we can spend these funds and achieve similar results, perhaps not necessarily focusing students on college degrees, perhaps there is another way for them to find their path to success.”

McMahon said her agency is in the process of spending “approximately $2.1 million” studying and evaluating the TRIO programs.

In his summary of Trump’s fiscal year 2027 budget requestthe department said that TRIO “has failed to meet the vast majority of its performance criteria and studies of program effectiveness have shown that it has not increased college enrollment.”

Democrats condemn plan to abolish agency

Meanwhile, McMahon faced criticism from top Democrats on the Senate subcommittee and broader budget panel over the administration’s ongoing efforts to dismantle the agency.

Part of this effort includes several interagency agreements between Education and the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, Interior, State, and Treasury, which delegate many of the educational functions to these agencies.

Sen. Tammy Baldwin, ranking member of the subcommittee, said education “consigns the majority of its programs to other federal departments, agencies with little experience, expertise or capacity to manage them.”

The Wisconsin Democrat said the transfers aren’t “reducing bureaucracy” – a key government goal across the federal government and particularly at the department – but rather creating “another layer of it.”

She added that “states have previously dealt primarily with the Department of Education, but now must work with multiple federal agencies.”

Sen. Patty Murray of Washington state, the top Democrat on the full Appropriations Committee, pressed McMahon on the status of the administration as it considers moving special education services out of the Education Department as part of its dismantling efforts.

The potential move to transfer programs from the department’s Office of Special Education and Rehabilitation Services has drawn attention widespread concern by disability advocates.

McMahon said her department is “still considering where best to locate these programs, and we have not made that decision yet.”

“I can assure you that it is not the intention of this administration to endanger these students in any way,” McMahon said.

But Murray wasn’t content with the minister’s response, saying she was “deeply concerned that your response sounds like you’re still moving forward – let’s make it clear that this is against the law and is making it much harder for these students with disabilities to get an education and understand that their country will have their back in this.”