Trump’s pick for Department of Education chief meets with lawmakers

A day after President Donald Trump called the U.S. Department of Education “a big con job”, the president’s nominee to oversee the organization — Linda McMahon — offered a terse assessment of much of the Cabinet-level department’s activities:

“It’s not working,” McMahon said Thursday during her confirmation hearing before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.

The hearing offered an odd political juxtaposition for a coveted government position.

On one hand, McMahon was seeking confirmation from lawmakers for a seat in Trump’s Cabinet.

But the World Wrestling Entertainment co-founder and longtime Trump ally also echoes her would-be boss’s sentiments regarding the future of the 45-year-old Education Department.

“I am really all for the president’s mission — which is to return education to the states,” said McMahon during Thursday’s hearing. “I believe, as he does, that the best education is closest to the child.”

Plans are reportedly being considered at the White House to direct the next Education secretary — presumptively McMahon — to dismantle the department as much as legally possible, while also pressing Congress to scrap it completely, according to The Associated Press.

At a news conference last week, the president said he wants McMahon “to put herself out of a job.”

Ultimately, abolishing the Education Department would not be McMahon or even the president’s call.

It would require congressional approval.

“President Trump understands that we’ll be working with Congress,” McMahon said Thursday. “We’d like to do this right.”

A couple members of Utah’s congressional delegation threw their support behind McMahon following the confirmation hearing.

“American families want transparency, educational freedom and a focus on truth and excellence in the classroom,” posted Utah Sen. Mike Lee on X.

“Linda McMahon is going to be their champion as Secretary of Education.”

Added Rep. Burgess Owens: “Linda McMahon KILLED IT in the Senate today… The New Golden Age of America will be made possible by empowering the next generation to chase the American dream.”

What does the Department of Education do?

To be clear, the federal department does not dictate what educators teach in the classroom.

Instead, the department’s largest K-12 role is overseeing implementation of the Every Student Succeeds Act, which requires states to monitor their schools’ progress and intervene in poorly performing schools in exchange for federal money, including funding from Title I, an $18.4 billion program, according to Education Week.

The department also administers the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act — a $14.2 billion program that helps schools pay for special education services for students with disabilities.

And, as The Washington Post reported, the agency is charged with enforcing civil rights laws that bar discrimination in federally funded schools on the basis of race, sex and other factors.

In higher education, meanwhile, the Education Department oversees the Free Application for Student Aid, or FAFSA, and the massive federal student loan and grant programs (the federal direct student loans program has a portfolio of outstanding loans totaling over $1 trillion).

Calls for improved efficiency in education

At her confirmation hearing Thursday, McMahon said she would preserve core initiatives including Title I money for low-income schools, Pell grants for low-income college students, and Public Service Loan Forgiveness.

McMahon said the goal is not to defund key programs — but to have them “operate more efficiently,” the AP reported.

She also questioned whether some programs should be moved to other agencies.

Enforcement of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, she suggested, “may very well rest better” in the Department of Health and Human Services, an agency that already has oversight of disability issues.

The agency’s Office for Civil Rights, she said, could fit better at the Justice Department.

McMahon sought to reassure senators that politically popular programs were safe — yet at the same time she promised to cut federal money from schools and colleges that defy Trump’s demands, including his executive orders against transgender athletes, campus antisemitism and DEI initiatives.

In a tense exchange, Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., asked McMahon to clarify the boundaries of Trump’s order banning DEI in schools. McMahon said events celebrating Martin Luther King Jr. should be allowed, but she hesitated when asked about African American history classes, the AP reported.

“I’m not quite certain,” she said. “I’d like to look into it further.”

Murphy said her answer would “have a lot of educators and a lot of principals and administrators scrambling right now.”

At a news conference after Thursday’s hearing, Murphy said McMahon’s nomination is part of a strategy to defund and privatize public schools. Noting the failure of recent ballot measures to expand school choice in some states, he said families are demanding investment in public schools, the AP reported.

“Billionaires that are in charge of our government today, they don’t know anything about the public school system because they don’t need it,” Murphy said.

While the ultimate future of the Department of Education is unclear, Trump has already reshaped the organization as part of his recent purge of federal workers.

Reuters reported that at least 160 recent hires at the Department of Education received termination letters earlier this week, telling them that their continued employment “would not be in the public interest.’

Trump has defended the job cuts, saying the federal government is too bloated and that too much money is lost to waste and fraud. The federal government has some $36 trillion in debt and ran a $1.8 trillion deficit last year, and there is bipartisan agreement on the need for government reform, according to Reuters.

Who is Linda McMahon?

McMahon, 76, is a prominent member of the first family of professional wrestling. Since its founding decades ago by the McMahons, WWE has become a wildly popular heavyweight in American sports entertainment. Linda McMahon is married to Vince McMahon, although the couple are now reportedly separated and no longer in the wrestling business.

The North Carolina native stepped away from her position as WWE’s chief executive several years ago to enter politics, making unsuccessful bids for a U.S. Senate seat in Connecticut in 2010 and 2012. She was also appointed to serve on the Connecticut State Board of Education in 2009, where she served for a year.

McMahon has said she once planned to become a school teacher. She also spent several years on the board of trustees for Connecticut’s Sacred Heart University.

McMahon has been a Trump loyalist since his successful run for president in 2016, providing millions to his campaigns, The Associated Press reported.

After claiming the White House following his first presidential run, Trump chose McMahon to lead the Small Business Administration, which gives loans and disaster relief to companies and entrepreneurs, and also monitors compliance with contract laws.

When McMahon was chosen, she was praised by the two Connecticut Democrats who defeated her in Senate campaigns. Sen. Richard Blumenthal called her “a person of serious accomplishment and ability,” while the aforementioned Murphy said she was a “talented and experienced businessperson.”

Unlike some other members of Trump’s first administration, McMahon was not shadowed by scandal or controversy, the AP reported. She frequently promoted his trade and tax policies.

“She has been a superstar,” Trump said when she left the administration in 2019. “The fact is, I’ve known her for a long time. I knew she was good, but I didn’t know she was that good.”

When Trump ran for president last year, McMahon was the co-chair of his transition team. As part of that role, McMahon helped plan Trump’s new administration.