Linda McMahon: Trump’s educational sketches outline Roadmap for Disassembly Department

Washington (AP) – Linda McMahon Thursday drawing how the most important functions of the education department could be cut to achieve President Donald Trump’s goal of Disassembly of the AgencyIt promises to “redirect” the department as he continues some of his biggest programs.

Asked about the fate of specific programs during her confirmation hearing, McMahon promised to maintain core initiatives, including section I-money for low-income schools, Pell grants for low-income students and forgiveness of public service loans. She said the Trump administration wants to “do this right” and she thinks it would take a congressional action to abolish the education department.

“We want to make sure we present a plan that I think our senators could get on board and our congress could get on board with it would have a better functioning education department,” McMahon said. But to close the department “Requires a certain congressional action.”

McMahon said the president’s goal is not to reject key programs, but to make them “operate more effectively.” But she asked if some programs should be moved to other agencies. Enforcement of the Law on Persons with Disability Education, she suggested, “may well rest better” in the Department of Health and Human Services, an agency that already oversees disability problems. The Agency’s Civil Rights Office, she said, could take better care of the Ministry of Justice.

Democrats repeatedly grilled McMahon on her willingness to follow orders from Trump or Elon Musk, even if they run congress mandates. The problem could be at the forefront as Trump seems to cut the department’s expenses, much of which is ordered by Congress. McMahon promised to maintain the law and show respect for Congress.

“We will definitely spend the dollars that Congress has gone,” she said during the hearing of the Senate Committee for Health, Education, Workers and Pensions.

During his opening declaration, the US Capitol police removed a person in the audience who got up and disturbed the consultation and talked about the importance of the people with disabilities to protect students with disabilities. Four other people were removed to disturb the hearing all morning.

A plan considered by the White House would order the Education Secretary to run the department as much as legally possible while asking Congress abolish it completely. At a news conference in the White House last week, Trump said he wanted McMahon “to get out of a job.”

Even without an order to close the department, the Trump administration has undergone many aspects of its work.

Representatives Elon Musks Department of Government Efficiency Have access to educational department databases, identifying workers for dismissal and cancellation of contracts. The department cut 900 million dollars in contracts For his office, which traces progress for students in schools throughout America, which raises alarms about the future of the work it has done to support research and track performance holes.

On Wednesday, the department fired at least 39 employees who were in a one -year probationary period, according to a trade union representing agency workers. The layoffs include civil rights workers, specialists for specialist education and student aid officials. The notice of termination sent to workers said that their further employment would not be in the public interest.

Trump has proposed another interpretation of the office’s civil rights role. During his administration, the department has instructed the office to prioritize complaints about Anti -Semitism Above all else and has opened studies of colleges and school sports league that allowed transking athletes Compete for women’s teams.

Trump has not said if he would preserve the agency’s core work, sending billions of dollars a year to schools, administering a portfolio of 1.6 trillion dollars of $ 1.6 trillion dollars and enforce civil rights in education.

In a letter to McMahon this week, the Democratic Sens said. Elizabeth Warren and Andy Kim that she will be asked if she supports Trump’s plan and what action she will take to perform it. The letter asks McMahon for obligations to preserve the department’s student loan and civil rights office, among other programs highlighted by the Democrats.

McMahon is a long -time Trump Ally who became a billionaire as CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment. She left Wrestling Empire in 2009 to launch a political career and ran without success twice for the US Senate in Connecticut. McMahon has given millions to Trump’s campaigns, and during her first period he chose her to lead Small Business Administration.

McMahon has a more limited educational field than most previous secretaries. She spent a year in the Connecticut Board of Education and is a long -time administrator at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Connecticut. McMahon has called for extended school choice programs together with a focus on apprenticeships and alternatives to traditional college degrees.

During a 2009 hearing about serving in Connecticut’s Education Council, McMahon said she was planning to become a teacher after college, but instead found work at a law firm before building WWE with her husband, Vince.

Those who encourage senators to reject McMahon include the National Education Association – the nation’s largest teachers’ association – and advocates that require a stronger title IX protection for victims of sexual assault.

Republicans praise her business sharpness and say she is a good choice to change the course of American education. Senator Bill Cassidy, chair of the Health and Education Committee, met with McMahon in January and said she is “prepared to return power to parents and reform an educational department that has lost the plot.”

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