McMahon and Murphy, at confirmation hearing.
Washington — The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee voted along party lines Thursday to confirm Linda McMahon as the next education secretary as Democrats said she would be the last person to hold the post of a cabinet agency President Donald Trump wants to disband.
The vote was 12 – 11. The nomination now goes to the Senate floor, where Republicans hold the majority.
“I can’t vote for somebody who will willfully engage in the destruction of the agency she wants to lead,” said U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, D‑Va. “That is disqualifying.“
“The question before us today is whether we support a nominee and a president who believe dismantling the Department of Education is in the best interest of kids,” said U.S. Sen. Maggie Hassan, Democrat of New Hampshire.
But Republicans talked about overhauling an agency, not abolishing it.
“If confirmed, Ms. McMahon has the tall task of reforming a Department of Education that has lost its purpose,” said the committee chair, U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy, Republican of Louisiana. “For the last four years, the Department focused on everything but student learning. Its bureaucracy and red tape stand in the way of student success. We need a strong leader at the Department who will get our education system back on track. Ms. McMahon is the right person for the job.”
And U.S. Sen. Markwayne Mullin, Republican of Oklahoma, said the U.S. ranked No. 1 in the world in education when the Department of Education was created in 1980 but now ranks 34th.
“What we’re doing is the definition of insanity, which means we’re repeating the same thing and expecting different results,” Mullin said. “God forbid President Trump comes in and actually wants to make changes.”
Trump’s not interested in changes, but rather the destruction of public education, committee member U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, Democrat of Connecticut., said in a video posted on X after the vote.
“Donald Trump wants to get rid of the Department of Education, wants to destroy public schools,” Murphy said. “That’s not popular anywhere in this country. That’s not what Donald Trump was elected to do.”
He repeated his comments after McMahon’s confirmation hearing last week in which he said the Trump administration sought to increase the role of the federal government in public education, not reduce it.
During his questioning of her at the time, McMahon said she would have to review whetherTrump’s executive order banning diversity, equity and inclusion — known as DEI — would prevent after-school clubs based on ethnic or racial identity, or offer a class on African American history.
“Did you listen to her?” Murphy said on X. “She said the federal government, in fact, is going to step in and tell schools which afterschool clubs they can have, decide whether they’re DEI or not. They’re going to be prescriptive as to which history courses can be taught, potentially telling schools that they can’t have African American history as a topic. That’s the massive micromanagement of our schools by the federal government, the exact opposite thing she says is her goal.”
The real goal, he said, was to destroy public education and sell off the schools to rich investors.
“They talk about vouchers,” he said. “What they really mean is that they want private equity firms to come in and gobble up our elementary schools and our middle schools, and then they’re going to sell our schools off to the highest bidder. That’s disgusting. It’s great for the billionaires and the millionaires and the private equity funds. It’s terrible for our kids.”
Linda McMahon's nomination to be Secretary of Education just passed out of committee on a party line vote.
— Chris Murphy 🟧 (@ChrisMurphyCT) February 20, 2025
I want to tell you about Trump's agenda for our kids: shut down the Dept of Education; micromanage teachers from the White House; sell off our schools to the billionaires. pic.twitter.com/AYmQZ1FS5K