Senator Bernie Sanders, the ranking member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP), along with all Democratic members of the committee, has called for an immediate oversight hearing. The request is directed to Chairman Bill Cassidy following recent actions by Education Secretary Linda McMahon to transfer dozens of federally authorized education programs—amounting to more than $30 billion—out of the Department of Education.
The group letter was also signed by Senators Patty Murray, Tammy Baldwin, Chris Murphy, Tim Kaine, Maggie Hassan, John Hickenlooper, Ed Markey, Andy Kim, Lisa Blunt Rochester, and Angela Alsobrooks.
This call for a hearing comes after Secretary McMahon announced on November 18 six new Interagency Agreements (IAAs) that would shift core elementary, secondary and postsecondary education programs from the Department of Education without approval from Congress. Sanders and other HELP Democrats stated these moves are “an alarming and illegal attempt by the Trump administration to dismantle the Education Department,” describing them as a direct attack on students and educational institutions nationwide.
In their statement to Chairman Cassidy, they wrote: “Congress unambiguously vested responsibility for administering education programs with the Department under numerous laws, and Congress explicitly appropriated funding to the Department to carry them out. This illegal action is part of the administration’s broader effort to dismantle the Department.”
The senators further expressed concern about student performance in international rankings: “At a time when U.S. students rank 34th in the world in math and academic outcomes have sharply declined since the early 2010s, it is outrageous that the Trump administration is trying to dismantle the only agency dedicated to improving outcomes for all students. Burying education programs in other federal agencies will not help students or support schools and colleges. Rather, it will jeopardize services for tens of millions of students, educators, and families across the country.”
More than 80 organizations representing education interests as well as disability and civil rights groups have opposed these interagency agreements. They have urged HELP Committee leadership to examine how such changes could impact public schools and communities.
The letter concluded with this request: “As members of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee we must hold an oversight hearing on this massive and unprecedented transfer of responsibility and federal funding to other agencies. Therefore, we are calling on you to immediately hold a bipartisan oversight hearing to bring Secretary McMahon to testify before the Committee about these interagency agreements.”
