U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon on Sunday argued that programs, including special education and student loans, would not be cut, even if they are managed by other departments.
Laying out a game plan to rewind her agency as much as possible, McMahon explained that the Trump administration has at least a loose idea for offices moving elsewhere.
“Outward programs that affect students will not be refunded for these programs,” McMahon said in CNN's “Affiliated Status.”
“when [Trump] We talked about student loans, and that would go to SMEs,” McMahon said. [the Department of Health and Human Services]by the way, that's where they started.
“We want to make sure that funding continues in the sectors that need it, but at the same time we give the state the opportunity to be innovative and creative with their education,” McMahon said.
Last week, President Trump signed a vague executive order directing McMahon to begin closing the education department to “the maximum extent appropriate and permitted by law.”
He later specifically said he wanted to shift his DOE work on student loans and special needs children to other departments.
“As we see how we close the Department of Education, I think we're looking at putting things in different departments that can operate very efficiently,” McMahon said.
She noted that the department does not teach or develop a curriculum to a single student.
The Secretary of Education has acknowledged that the Trump administration requires Congressional actions to completely remove the department.
But she has already taken dramatic steps to begin to dismantle it, Includes thrashing Almost half of the workforce earlier this month.
The Ministry of Education was created in 1979 under the late former President Jimmy Carter. This division has the lowest level of staffing and has one of the largest budgets for every department of the President's Cabinet.
Starting with former President Ronald Reagan, conservatives had been pushing for a long time to abolish it, but so far they had failed.
Former President Barack Obama signed the law in 2015, restricting the Department of Education from roaming too hard on local education issues. Still, McMahon argued that the DOE, which had a budget of $268 billion last year, was too cumbersome as to how it would drive away the money.
“A lot of the money sent to the state right now has a lot of red tape and a lot of strings attached to it,” she insisted.
In some areas, such as support for children with disabilities, McMahon said he hopes “more funds go to the state for that,” and argued that the management of these programs should be primarily at the state level, even if DHHS takes over them.
“It's true, President Trump said he will follow the law and work with Congress to get things going,” she added.
During the interview, McMahon also briefly mentioned Columbia University's decision to open a cave at the Trump administration's demands to revamp its approach to combating anti-Semitism on campus.
Trump's team had frozen about $400 million worth of federal aid to Ivy League schools, demanding changes.
McMahon said the concessions at Columbia University “we are now sure that we are on the right track and ensure that we have final negotiations to unlock the money.
“[Interim Columbia President] When McMahon agreed to the White House demands, Katrina Armstrong wanted to make sure there was no discrimination of any kind,” McMahon said.
