Sparks flew on Capitol Hill Wednesday as Education Secretary Linda McMahon confronted off with Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman, D-N.J., in a fiery change all over a House Appropriations subcommittee listening to in the newest conflict over the Trump management’s efforts to dismantle the Department of Education.
The confrontation started when Watson Coleman requested, “Do you believe that there is illegal discrimination against people who are Black or brown, and other types of discrimination in jobs and education in this country?”
“I think it still exists in some areas,” McMahon answered.
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Secretary of Education Linda McMahon testifies prior to a House Committee on Appropriations’ subcommittee price range listening to at the Department of Education on Capitol Hill, Wednesday. (Rod Lamkey, Jr./AP Photo)
Watson Coleman pressed additional: “Then can you tell me why the Office of Civil Rights and the Department of Education is being decimated?”
McMahon spoke back, “Well, it isn’t being decimated. We have reduced the size of it. However, we are taking on a backlog of cases that were left over from the Biden administration.”
Watson Coleman grew visibly annoyed and accused the management of racial bias in immigration and schooling insurance policies, announcing its movements amounted to “favoritism and prioritization of white over color.”
In a blistering rebuke, Watson Coleman mentioned, “Your rhetoric means nothing to me. What means something to me is the actions of this administration. I’m telling you, the Department of Education is one of the most important departments in this country. And you should feel shameful to be engaged with an administration that doesn’t give a damn.”
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Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman, D-N.J., attends the House Appropriations Committee Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Subcommittee listening to. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc by the use of Getty Images)
McMahon, closing composed, answered, “I am the secretary of Education who has been approved to run this agency by Congress. And I was appointed by the president. And I serve at his pleasure under his mandate. So, therefore, the direction of his administration is what I will follow.”
The change got here as a part of a bigger listening to wherein McMahon laid out President Donald Trump’s 2026 schooling price range proposal, which requires a $12 billion minimize to the Education Department, a fifteen% aid.
McMahon described her paintings as the dept’s “final mission”: to wind it down and repair schooling oversight to states, folks and native educators.
“Let’s focus on literacy. What we’re seeing in those scores is a failure of our students to learn to read,” McMahon mentioned. “We’ve lost the fundamentals.”
Chairman Rep. Robert Aderholt, R-Ala., praised McMahon’s way, noting, “Despite $3 trillion in federal education spending since 1980, student achievement has not improved. The answer is not more money. It’s more accountability and local control.”
The plan consolidates 18 federal methods right into a unmarried $2 billion block grant to states. Democrats categorized the proposal as a backdoor effort to intestine federal strengthen for public colleges.
On scholar loans, McMahon mentioned the dept has begun convalescing repayments after years of Biden-era pauses and confusion.
Secretary of Education Linda McMahon testifies prior to a House Committee on Capitol Hill, Wednesday. (Rod Lamkey, Jr./AP Photo)
“Since we restarted collections in May, we have recovered nearly $100 million,” she mentioned.
She additionally defended staffing cuts and administrative restructuring, declaring, “We’re delivering on all of our statutory requirements with fewer people and lower overhead.”
Republicans at the subcommittee shared their strengthen for constitution colleges and college selection. McMahon, in settlement, pointed to a proposed $60 million building up in constitution college investment.
“We’ve got about a million students on charter school waiting lists,” she mentioned. “Parents should be deciding where their children can go to school and get the best education.”
Democrats additionally criticized McMahon for no longer protecting early early life schooling, in particular Head Start, even supposing this system technically falls underneath the Department of Health and Human Services.
“Every Head Start program in the country has three days of funding. That’s not someone else’s problem. It’s America’s children,” mentioned Rep. Josh Harder, D-Calif.
Secretary of Education Linda McMahon testifies prior to a House Committee on Appropriations’ subcommittee price range listening to on Capitol Hill, Wednesday. (Rod Lamkey, Jr./AP Photo)
McMahon spoke back, “The earlier we can start education, the better, but I don’t believe the federal government is responsible for everything. That’s where states can lead.”
The Trump management additionally defended its place forcefully out of doors the listening to room.
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“On the topic of corruption, let’s not forget that the Department of Education was created by President Carter in an attempt to win voters,” Savannah Newhouse, Education Department press secretary, mentioned in a observation to Fox News Digital following the change.
“Since then, we have spent over $3 trillion pretending the department is necessary as student learning outcomes have not improved,” she persisted. “While the congresswoman from New Jersey basks in her five minutes of fame, the Trump administration is working to improve student outcomes and ensure American families have access to the quality education that they deserve.”
