3 days ago
The Republican plan to dismantle the Education Department one program at a time
The Louisiana Republican said a 'dual mandate' like workforce development programs at the Education and Labor departments could be consolidated at the latter.
'The ultimate desire is to leave more back there [in the states] without bringing them to Washington and that's the intention about right-sizing, de-powering — whatever term we want to use about the Department of Education — until there are the votes necessary for Congress to pass a bill that abolishes the department,' said Walberg, who had his own meeting with McMahon. 'We don't have those votes now.'
McMahon is 'interested in responsibly winding down' the agency, Education Department spokesperson Ellen Keast said in a statement, noting that the secretary is 'committed to working with Congress and key stakeholders to accomplish this goal.'
The department has already begun shifting management of career and technical education programs to the Labor Department after the Supreme Court green-lighted the Trump administration's efforts to cut Education staff.
'My goal really is to make sure that we can transfer different jobs that are being done at the Department of Education' to other agencies, McMahon said on Fox News in July after her department resumed its interagency agreement with the Labor Department.
'We had our IDEA funding and our Title I-A funding prior to the Department of Education. At that point in time it went through HHS,' she said, referring to the Department of Health, Education and Welfare. HEW became the Department of Health and Human Services after the Education Department was created. 'Would that be a place for it to go now?'
Former department officials say a multi-bill approach will allow lawmakers to make the case for moving certain programs to other agencies.
'Breaking it up into smaller bills, it will take longer, potentially, but maybe you can hit the lowest-hanging fruit more quickly,' said Diane Jones, a deputy undersecretary at the Education Department during Trump's first term.
'I think we have to look and figure out which agencies they would move it to, how does that align with authorizing and appropriating committees and what's possible, you know? I also think that they want to do it thoughtfully and so there are some programs that are going to be a little more complicated,' said Jones, who also served in former President George W. Bush's Education Department and worked on Capitol Hill.
