Linda McMahon, President Donald Trump’s nomination for secretary of knowledge, testified before the Senate on Thursday. Although the reading contained many of the “gotcha” nonsense that Democrats have come to believe, her responses provided some insight into possible problems with running a department that some hope to have abolished.
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McMahon’s opening speech included several characteristics of what liberals are looking for in an education minister. She spoke about the rise of violent crime on university campuses, social ideology-strung teachers in syllabuses and national red tape, the state of high schools and colleges ‘ workforce readiness, parental rights, and nosediving test results.
According to McMahon,” President Trump ] pledged to make American training the best in the world, gain knowledge to the states where it belongs, and completely American students from the knowledge government through college choice.” The success of our country depends on it, and it is what sets National staff up for success.
” We can do much for the elementary and junior high school students by teaching fundamental reading and algebra,” she said, and for college students who are facing racism on college and for parents and grandparents who worry that their children and grandchildren aren’t taught American ideals and true history. Our scars are frequently brought on by our federal education system’s increased energy consolidation. So what’s the solution? Bank education freedom, not government-run techniques. Talk to parents, not officials. Build up profession, not college loan. Empower says, no specific interests. Invest in faculty, no Washington officials. If confirmed as director, I will function with Congress to reposition the office toward helping teachers, no controlling them”.
She added that, as Trump has stated, the administration’s aim is not to reduce federal funding for education, but rather to give states more authority. McMahon, who served in the first Trump presidency as the superintendent of the Small Business Administration, appears to have garnered the aid of most, if not all Republicans.
McMahon’s hearing comes after recent National Assessment of Education Progress ( NAEP ) scores were released, showing plummeting reading capabilities and abysmal improvement in mathematics among the nation’s schoolchildren. Democrats who tried to argue that the Department of Education is significant because it guarantees “equal entry” to “quality” education had a sharp rebuke of that environment, which also included some of the worst educational achievement in the world.
On Wednesday, Trump called the Department of Education a” fraudulent work” that he wants closed “immediately” — a lifelong goal of some Republicans.
Requires Development
While McMahon’s responses generally demonstrated why Trump chose her to lead the Education Department, discussions with lawmakers revealed two areas that the nominee and the administration as a whole can improve upon once she is confirmed.
1. No More Identity Month
Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., attempted to needle McMahon, and the broader Trump administration movement to rout out diversity, equity, and inclusion ( DEI ) ideology in schools, by talking about an executive order directing agencies to halt all grants to organizations that support DEI.
Another executive order seeks to deny federal funding from organizations that adhere to the “discriminatory capital worldview” and ends “radical education in K-12 schooling.
Murphy inquired if public schools violated the attempt by teaching about dark history, a frequently told lie by Democrats to distract from their repeated attempts to defame public education using fake history.
McMahon said that it would certainly, and added that” Black History Month and Martin Luther King Jr. Day should be observed in all of our institutions.”
Trump recently signed an executive order honoring Black History Month. However, personality times have always been a La philosophy, just as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth realized when he canceled them all for the military with advice titled” Identity Months Dead at DoD.” The rest of the Trump presidency, including the Department of Education, if end personality months also.
Murphy claimed that the businesses impacted by the La requests, including schools, are “scrambling because they have no idea what that means” ( ). It is not clear whether he intended to make the state that the philosophy, which is well documented and present in both government and education, does not occur.
McMahon correctly identified the problem, claiming that DEI has done more to separate colleges and foster department than anything else.
” We are getting up to more separating of our institutions, instead of having more participation in our colleges”, she said. There are La programs that claim that Hispanics and dark students require separate graduation ceremonies. With addition, we are never achieving what we hoped to.
2. Money that were Congressionally Appropriated
Making sure that every cent of the money that Congress has authorized will be spent may make that task difficult, even though the Department of Education is ripe for major cuts.
When asked by Sen. Angela Alsobrooks, D-Md., whether she would help any effort from Trump to “freeze resources that have been appropriated by Congress”, McMahon replied,” If they’ve been appropriated by Congress, those money may be disseminated”.
That may mean the division will fall under the same saving destiny cycle that has kept federal agencies sluggish and wasting payer money on absurdity.
One of Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought’s main objectives was to combat that fad, as he stated in his own assurance sessions.
Syllabus believes the Impoundment Control Act, which prevents the executive branch from spending less money than was appropriated by Congress, is illegal. Executive agencies could possibly use funds for things they believe are in need of them or they could block specific funding for offices or projects they thought are useless or even harmful due to the ability to be more dynamic and perceptive with money.
Fulfilling the Department of Education’s mission will probably mean no following congressional orders regarding the offices that need to be funded, even if it is explicitly stated, and removing the bureaucracy from each agency will be a key part of that effort.
Breccan F. Thies is an primaries journalist for The Federalist. He formerly covered issues of culture and education for Breitbart News and the Washington Examiner. He is a 2022 Claremont Institute Publius Fellow and holds a degree from the University of Virginia. You may follow him on X: @BreccanFThies.
