President Donald Trump has been forced to walk back his plans to shut down the Department of Education.
Trump announced on Thursday that he was signing an order that would “begin eliminating the federal Department of Education once and for all.”
He glossed over White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt’s earlier remarks that the Education Department would continue to handle student loans and Pell grants as well as other “critical functions,” including enforcing some civil rights laws and programs for students with disabilities.
The U-turn comes amid concern in the administration that Congress would balk at Trump’s plan to shutter the entire department.
Trump said he hoped that, “ultimately,” a bill would go before Congress to shut down the agency altogether.
“The Department of Education will be much smaller than it is today,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said ahead of Trump’s announcement. “When it comes to student loans and Pell grants, those will still be run out of the Department of Education. But we don’t need to be spending more than $3 trillion over the course of a few decades on a department that’s clearly failing in its initial intention to educate our students.”
Linda McMahon will oversee cuts in the Education Department. / Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Imag
“Pell grants and student loans will still be run out of the Department in Washington, DC, but the great responsibility of education, educating our nation’s students will return to the states,” she added. “We are greatly reducing the scale and size of this department.”
The president signed the executive order to launch the partial dismantling of the agency just weeks after announcing the workforce would be halved.
New Education Secretary Linda McMahon will be tasked with overseeing the streamlined department—though many assumed her job would be phased out with the agency.
“Linda will be presiding over something that is so important,” Trump said. “Hopefully you won’t be there for much longer.”
“We are going to be returning education back to the states where it belongs,” he added.
A White House fact sheet said former World Wrestling Entertainment boss McMahon would be directed “to take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure (of) the Department of Education and return education authority to the States, while continuing to ensure the effective and uninterrupted delivery of services, programs, and benefits on which Americans rely.”
Rights activists and Democratic lawmakers have angrily condemned the move to devastate the department created in 1979.
“This isn’t fixing education,” the National Parents Union said in a statement. “It’s making sure millions of children never get a fair shot. And we’re not about to let that happen without a fight.”
In a message to Trump, Democratic Sen. Tina Smith said: “We know you’re just trying to wear us out. But for the record, I am not overwhelmed. My zone isn’t flooded. I will fight your illegal behavior until the cows come home, and I’m pretty sure the hundreds of thousands of people who’ve contacted my office since you started this nonsense are on the same page.”
