President Donald Trump’s pick for education secretary went before the Senate where she faced a tough grilling over the administration’s plans to dismantle the department she would lead.
Linda McMahon was tapped to lead the Education Department as Trump and billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) set it in their sights.
Trump has called for the Department of Education to be shuttered for years. On Wednesday, he said he wanted it closed ‘immediately’ and called it a ‘con job.’
On Thursday, McMahon appeared before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee for her confirmation hearing where she faced a barrage of questions about the administration’s plans and department’s future.
‘So DOGE, there are a couple of implants at the Department of Education as there are with agencies throughout the district,’ McMahon revealed on Thursday.
‘They’re doing an audit,’ she claimed.
It came in response to questions from Senator Patty Murray (D-Wash.) who was asking about what she would do if Trump or Musk said to not spend money Congress has directly appropriated.
‘We will certainly expend those dollars that Congress has passed, but I do think it is worthwhile to take a look at the programs before money goes out the door,’ McMahon said.
President Trump’s pick for education secretary Linda McMahon appearing before the Senate HELP Committee for her confirmation hearing on Thursday, February 13
Murray asked McMahon whether she believed DOGE should have access to private student data, but McMahon did not outright reject their access.
‘It is my understanding that DOGE employees have been onboarded as employees of the Department of Education, and therefore, they operate under the restraints of utilizing access of information, and they’re constrained by that,’ McMahon claimed.
Murray pushed back on the DOGE staffer access arguing lawmakers ‘don’t know who they are’ and giving them access to students’ private information should ‘frighten everyone.’
Senator Ed Markey (D-Mass.) quoted Trump calling for the department to be closed immediately and a con job.
He claimed ‘waste, fraud and corruption is code for cuts to public education’ and declared DOGE going through the Education Department ‘just stands for Department of Gutting Education.’
Markey asked McMahon to commit to making sure money does not get cut from public education to pay for tax breaks for the wealthy.
She pushed back that the administration is trying to find waste, fraud and abuse and said to her understanding DOGE officials in the department are looking at competitive contracts with bidding.
‘Let’s see where that money’s going. How’s it being spent?’ McMahon said.
During her opening statement, McMahon noted the decline in math and reading scores in the U.S. and argued the country could do better.
She claimed the issues were caused by the ‘excessive consolidation of power’ in the education system and argued for funding ‘education freedom’ rather than government systems, listen to parents over politicians and empowering states.
She did not directly address the effort to shutter the department in her prepared remarks but highlighted Trump’s vow to return education to the states.
But efforts to close or shrink the Education Department were top of mind for multiple lawmakers.
Senate HELP Committee Chairman Bill Cassidy (R-La.) asked point blank if she believed it would take an act of Congress to close the Education Department.
McMahon said they want a plan that ‘certainly does require congressional action.’
She claimed the goal is not to defund education but make it run more efficiently.
‘I’m really all for the president’s mission, which is to return education to the states,’ she claimed.
Senator Susan Collins (R-Maine) asked how they would maintain administration and oversight of education programs if they ‘abolish or substantially reorganize the Department of Education.’
McMahon said programs would continue to be appropriated by Congress, noting they currently go to state education departments before being distributed to districts.
‘We’re not looking to defund or reduce any of those amounts,’ she insisted.
McMahon also said the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is handled the same way, but she suggested it might be better served in a different agency, claiming she’s not sure.
She also argued the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) in the Education Department may also be better served in the Justice Department but again said she wasn’t certain.
Linda McMahon lead the Small Business Administration during Trump’s first term. She acknowledged it would take an act of Congress to close the Education Department but she support’s Trump’s goal to return education ‘to the states’
A protester wearing a shirt calling for the protection of public schools is removed after disrupting the hearing
At another point, Senator Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) said the whole hearing felt ‘kind of surreal’ and that it was almost like they were being ‘subjected to a very elegant gaslighting.’
The senator referenced when McMahon had spoke of the need to enforce protecting Jewish students on college campuses, but she pointed out Trump wants to eliminate the department where that would take place.
During the hearing, there were multiple disruptions with protesters who shouted for protecting public schools and vulnerable young people including immigrants and transgender youths.
