WASHINGTON – A minority of House Democrats were banned from entering the Department of Education's DC headquarters on Friday.
Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif) and his fellow partisans, 95 people said,Emergency meetingOn Thursday, before he handed the matter to his own hands on Friday with deputy Dennis Carter, the security that “locked” the building's doors would only be stopped, a council aide told the Post.
The video footage shows officers informing lawmakers that the meeting request has not been “accepted.”No business purpose“For their visit.
“Don't get in the way!” Erupted Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif). “We'll pay for your work!”
Representatives Nydia Velázquez (D-ny) and Maxwell Frost (D-fla.) were also there to protest the move.
Congressional aides noted that the department's Legislative Affairs Bureau “approved the receipt of the letter,” but no further responses were made.
“President Donald Trump has pledged to abolish the Department of Education, and he believes that he can do this through an executive order,” Takano said, along with fellow officials outside the building and reporters. He spoke to. “And we're here to remind him: he can't!”
“The division was created through the Act on Parliament and cannot be abolished except for the act of Parliament,” he said.
President Jimmy Carter signed the law in 1979 to establish the modern Ministry of Education and make it a cabinet-level agency, but since 1867, early iterations have overseen the country's schools.
Trump, 78, has revealed that one of his greatest goals for the designated education secretary, Linda McMahon, is to defeat the division.
“I told Linda – “Linda, I hope you do a great job and get out of your job,” the president told reporters Tuesday. “I want her to take herself out of work.” [in the] Education Department. ”
Elon Musk, a tech billionaire and so-called “special government employee,” posted a meme on his X platform after winning Trump's 2024 election in November. Since then, America has moved from 1st to 24th in education. ”
Earlier this week, Trump claimed that the United States was “the last in the world to be recognized for top 40 education.”
It is unknown which dataset refers. Last year, the US ranked 20th out of 41 countries, according to an analysis by the Economic Co-operation and Development Agency. It's quite behind Canada And many European countries.
Notable Republicans have asked for almost the division since Carter's founding, but such a move by Trump would be challenged in court.
“I think I'm working with Congress,” Trump said, “Because the teachers union is the only one who opposes it.”
“If we move our schools to some of the very well-run states, I think they're just as good as Denmark, Norway and Sweden,” he said. “But you'll have the same lagard, which is all the other lagards, including crime.”
DOE's budget was approximately $2416.6 billion last fiscal year. According to the data Around $180 billion of that has been directed to the Federal Office of Student Aid, which handles student loans.
The forgiveness dollars on these loans came out the door despite much larger cancellation efforts due to former President Joe Biden being blocked by a federal court.
FRACAS on Friday comes after Musk, along with a team of Government Efficiency Office (DOGE) engineers, toured the agency freely to audit potentially useless federal spending.
“Today, we are requesting that our proxy secretaries meet and agree. Donald Trump and Elon Musk cannot and will not destroy the Department of Education on a whim.” Takano told reporters.
The Doge team joined the US Agency for International Development (USAID) last weekend and reportedly clashed with a security officer in the Ronald Reaganville.
The two staff members later took leave, with USAID Chief of Staff Matt Hopson later resigning.
On Monday, all USAID staff were prohibited from returning to the agency's headquarters for work.
Dozens of education department employees were also placed on administrative leave on the same day, according to the federal union.
