Democrats slammed Education Secretary Linda McMahon for dodging their questions about the end of her department in a Wednesday meeting, accusing the secretary of not having a plan for moving forward after firing half of her employees.
Rep. Mark Takano (Calif.), one 10 Democratic lawmakers who met with McMahon at the Education Department, said there was "a lot of unsatisfactory, sort of, ambiguity” about her promises to follow statute while also making her goal to “end the department de facto by cutting and slashing the workforce so the department absolutely does not fulfill its functions."
Takano and McMahon confirmed during a press conference afterward that more meetings between the secretary and Democrats would take place in the future.
The press conference struck an odd balance between criticisms and cordial attitudes from the Democrats, who said no other Cabinet chief has yet been willing to meet with them face-to-face.
"I have to say the secretary indicated more than once that before she moved any functions of the department ... that she was looking carefully at what the statute allows her to do. That was refreshing information that the secretary conveyed to all of us,” Takano said.
“For a generally lawless, extraconstitutional, extralegal administration ... the words from this secretary were much different than I expected,” he added.
But concerns are growing as President Trump has already said he is moving the “student loan portfolio” to the Small Business Administration and programs for students with disabilities to the Department of Health and Human Services “immediately,” although no action has been taken since that statement.
The president also signed an executive order directing McMahon to dismantle the department as far as she is legally allowed.
McMahon joined the press conference to thank the Democrats for their time and reiterate she wants to see more power on education given to the states.
"I want to express my gratitude to all these folks that came today so that we can have open discussions about what I believe is one of the most important things we can have a discussion on ... the education of our young people,” she said.
As McMahon was walking away, Takano asked her when she plans to shut down the department, to which she did not respond and went back inside the building.
"As you see, she is not answering the question: when she is going to shut down the Department of Education,” Takano said, with other Democrats in the background saying, “She doesn’t have a plan.”
For the federal agency to be completely eliminated, it would take an act of Congress, which is unlikely to happen considering it would require 60 votes in the Senate.
Democrats during the press conference raised concerns about the firing of half of the department’s workforce and cuts to the Office for Civil Rights, saying they doubt the agency will be able to meet its legal obligations under the current conditions.
“The idea of dismembering the department and then parceling it out to other agencies and departments does not give us a lot of confidence or hope in what’s happening,” Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) said.
