On the morning of Thursday, February 13, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, convened to consider the nomination of Linda McMahon for Secretary of Education. During the hearing, Committee members questioned McMahon on a wide variety of issues, including diversity, inclusion, and accessibility programming, federal education funding, school choice, and workforce Pell Grants. Unsurprisingly, President
Trump’s plans to dismantle the US Department of Education (ED) took center stage.
Throughout the hearing, McMahon asserted repeatedly that any efforts to eliminate ED would have to go through Congress, and that the goal of shuttering ED would be to focus on more efficient program operation: “We’d like to make sure that we are presenting
a plan that I think our senators could get on board with, and our Congress could get on board with, that would have a better functioning Department of Education,” she clarified. Any effort to eliminate ED “certainly requires Congressional action…it
cannot be shut down without it,” said McMahon.
Although ED may be dismantled, McMahon stated that key education programs would not: instead, they would likely be housed at different agencies. Americans, “should not be concerned that federal funding is going to be removed from their schools,” said
McMahon, but “how they get that funding may change.” For example, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act may be moved to the US Department of Health and Human Services, the nominee suggested.
Many senators on the Committee continued to vocalize their evident concern for the status of foundational education funding programs – like the Pell Grant or Title I – should ED be abolished. In response, McMahon continued to focus on reforming operations:
“It is not the goal to defund, it is the goal to have the programs operate more efficiently.” When Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Ranking Member of the Senate HELP Committee, asked the nominee specifically about funding for the Pell Grant program,
the cornerstone of federal student aid, McMahon highlighted her desire to expand the program to include more short-term credential and workforce training programs. McMahon has long been a supporter of the Bipartisan Workforce Pell Act, and a proponent for non-college pathways, including vocational training and apprenticeship programs.
Unsurprisingly, attention turned toward the Trump Administration’s efforts to suspend funding for many federal programs, through a series of executive actions. “If confirmed, do you commit to getting every dollar we have invested in our students and schools
out to them?” asked Senator Patty Murray (D-WA). “Well, the appropriated dollars, and those moneys that are passed by Congress, yes,” said McMahon, before adding that she believed, “the American people spoke loudly in the last election last November
to say that they want to look at waste, fraud, and abuse in our government,” and that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) implants at ED were doing an “audit,” in response. Senator Murray, like others on the Committee, seemed unconvinced.
Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA) inquired about potential plans to end the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program and whether the nominee would “fully implement existing Public Service Loan Forgiveness programs passed by Congress.” “We certainly want
honor those programs” said McMahon, “that’s the law.”
Several Committee members drilled down on how the nominee would handle continued efforts by President Trump and Elon Musk to impound federal funds. “You’ve said several times that you will uphold the law, so I will assume that if the President of the
United States gives you a directive that breaks the law, you will instead do what you are legally required to do, rather than his instruction?” asked a stern Senator Maggie Hassan (D-NH). “The President will not ask me to do anything that is against
the law,” answered McMahon. “Well, the last month has showed us that it is quite likely he may,” replied Senator Hassan, who had earlier categorized the hearing as a kind of “elegant gaslighting.” Later, McMahon reiterated the point to a clearly skeptical
Senator Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD), following a question about the unlawful freezing of federal funds: “If they’ve been appropriated by Congress,
those funds should be disseminated,” McMahon answered.
In another tense exchange, Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) questioned McMahon about the scope and impact of Trump’s recent Executive Orders targeting diversity, inclusion, and accessibility programs. McMahon shared that celebrating Martin Luther King Day, for example, would be allowed, but said she was “not quite sure” when pressed about clubs based on racial identity, such as a Vietnamese
or Black student group, or schools that taught a Black history class. “That’s pretty chilling,” Senator Murphy responded.
Throughout the hearing, the nominee amplified her desire to place power in the hands of students, teachers, and parents, when it comes to education, through policies centering parental choice: “The best education is the one closest to the student,” McMahon
repeated.
The Senate is expected to approve McMahon’s nomination in the next few days.
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