The Lyndon Baines Johnson Department of Education building, pictured on November 25, 2024. (Photo by Shauneen Miranda/States Newsroom)
WASHINGTON – A U.S. House panel on Wednesday approved a sweeping package of legislation designed to implement President Donald Trump’s push to sharply reduce the U.S. Department of Education’s responsibilities.
The U.S. House Education and Workforce Committee approved each of them, almost on a bipartisan basis The 10 bills in the package This would permanently transfer several tasks of the education system to other departments.
The measure largely reflects many of the intergovernmental agreements, or IAAs that Education has signed with other agencies represent a comprehensive effort by Republicans in Congress to implement the Trump administration’s plan to abolish the 46-year-old department as part of the president’s push to bring education “back to the states.”
This initiative continues, although much of the oversight and funding of schools already occurs at the state and local levels.
But the fate of the law is uncertain. Even if it were later passed by the entire U.S. House of Representatives, it would have great opportunities in the Senate, which is narrowly controlled by the Republican Party.
The upper house needs at least 60 senators to advance a bill past the filibuster, and Republicans hold just 53 seats.
Rep. Tim Walberg, chairman of the House panel, praised the package as a “first step toward ending the Department of Education’s rule over our nation’s education system” during his panel’s address.
The Michigan Republican added that the legislation advances Trump and Education Secretary Linda McMahon’s “vision for an education system that strengthens families, students, workers and local communities.”
McMahon said in a statement that “today is an important step by congressional leaders to solidify the Trump administration’s historic reforms to right-size the federal role in education” after the package passed out of committee.
Other departments take over
Under several bills, the Department of Labor would manage education programs related to primary and secondary education; post-secondary education; and career, technical and adult education – a reflection of previous IAAs.
Another bill would have the Treasury Department administer the federal student aid functions of education, a nod to this a March agreement Education signed with the Treasury Department to assume responsibility for collecting defaulted federal student loan debt.
This agreement was the first step in a multi-step process in which the Treasury Department would take over Education’s entire federal student loan portfolio of approximately $1.7 trillion.
Under other bills in the package, the State Department would manage the Education Department’s international education and foreign language study programs as well as reporting on foreign gifts and contracts – also mirroring previous agreements.
Considering additional IAAs, the Department of Health and Human Services would administer the accreditation of foreign medical schools in education; Functions related to access to child care for low-income parents in post-secondary education; and family engagement programs for elementary and secondary education.
The Interior Department would also manage tribal education and job training programs as part of the package.
Notably, the 10-bill package does not include any effort to transfer education responsibilities regarding special education programs and civil rights enforcement to other agencies.
In perhaps the Trump administration’s most far-reaching attempt yet to dismantle the Education Department, the agency said in June that HHS would administer programs under the Education Department’s Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, while civil rights enforcement would be transferred to the Justice Department under its Office for Civil Rights (OCR).
Rep. Bobby Scott, the top Democrat on the panel, said the committee’s move not to consider either measure in the package may be because “even my colleagues recognize how politically unpalatable such transfers would be.”
“Pain and Suffering”
Meanwhile, the legislative package faced stiff opposition from congressional Democrats in committee, who proposed a series of amendments to the bills to prevent the rollback.
Scott, a Democrat from Virginia, said: “It is difficult to express how impractical these proposals are, let alone the pain and suffering they would cause to students, educators and their communities if they became law.”
He pointed to the GOP’s goal of abolishing the department as part of its intent to “bring education back to the states” and said these proposals “will actually contribute to creating miles of bureaucratic hurdles, inconsistent education policy and enforcement across the federal government, and a significant waste of taxpayer dollars.”
Rep. Suzanne Bonamici said the bills under debate “show that Republicans in Congress know that the Department of Education does not have the authority to transfer offices and programs to other federal agencies without congressional action and are now seeking to cover up for the unlawful actions that have already been taken.”
The Oregon Democrat who introduced an impeachment resolution against McMahon in June, adding that the secretary “said her job was to shut down the Department of Education, which she doesn’t have the authority to do, but that’s exactly what she’s doing, disguised as a series of interagency agreements.”
