Linda McMahon told senators she believes it would take an act of Congress to abolish the Education Department, saying the Trump administration wants to “do this right” and craft a plan that senators will support.

At her confirmation hearing Thursday, McMahon used softer language than President Donald Trump has invoked in his pledge to close the Education Department. If confirmed, she vowed to “reorient” the department without ending some of its core work, adding that “defunding is not the goal here.”

“We’d like to make sure that we are presenting a plan that I think our senators could get on board with, and our Congress could get on board with, that would have a better functioning Department of Education,” McMahon said. But closing the department “certainly does require congressional action.”

Her remarks clashed with the rhetoric espoused by Trump, who on Wednesday said he wanted the department closed “immediately.”

During her opening statement, United States Capitol Police removed a person in the audience who stood up and disrupted the hearing, speaking about the importance of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act to protect students with disabilities.

A plan being considered by the White House would direct the education secretary to dismantle the department as much as legally possible while asking Congress to abolish it completely. At a White House news conference last week, Trump said he wanted McMahon “to put herself out of a job.”

Even without an order to close the department, the Trump administration has been overhauling many aspects of its work.

Representatives from Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency have been accessing Education Department databases, identifying workers for dismissal and canceling contracts. The department cut $900 million in contracts for its office that tracks progress of students in schools across America, raising alarms about the future of the work it has done to support research and track achievement gaps.

On Wednesday, the department fired at least 39 employees who were in a one-year probation period, according to a union that represents agency workers. The firings include civil rights workers, special education specialists and student aid officials. Termination letters sent to workers said their further employment would not be in the public interest.

Trump has suggested a different interpretation of the office’s civil rights role. Under his administration, the department has instructed the office to prioritize complaints of antisemitism above all else and has opened investigations into colleges and school sports leagues that allowed transgender athletes to compete on women’s teams.

Democrats have been gearing up to grill McMahon on her willingness to execute Trump’s plan at Thursday’s hearing before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions.

Trump hasn’t said whether he would preserve the core work of the agency, which sends billions of dollars a year to schools, manages a $1.6 trillion student loan portfolio and enforces civil rights in education.

In a letter to McMahon this week, Democratic Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Andy Kim said she’ll be asked if she supports Trump’s plan, and what action she will take to carry it out. The letter asks McMahon for commitments to preserve the department’s student loan operations and civil rights office, among other programs highlighted by the Democrats.

McMahon is a longtime Trump ally who became a billionaire as CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment. She left the wrestling empire in 2009 to launch a political career, running unsuccessfully twice for the U.S. Senate in Connecticut. McMahon has given millions to Trump’s campaigns, and during his first term, he picked her to lead the Small Business Administration.

McMahon has a more limited education track record than most previous secretaries. She spent a year on the Connecticut Board of Education and is a longtime trustee at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Connecticut. McMahon has called for expanded school choice programs, along with a focus on apprenticeships and alternatives to traditional college degrees.

At a 2009 hearing to serve on Connecticut’s education board, McMahon said she planned to become a teacher after college but instead found work at a law firm before building WWE with her husband, Vince.

Those urging senators to reject McMahon include the National Education Association — the nation’s largest teachers union — and advocacy groups calling for stronger Title IX protections for victims of sexual assault.

Republicans praise her business acumen and say she’s a good pick to change the course of American education. Sen. Bill Cassidy, chair of the health and education committee, met with McMahon in January and said she’s “prepared to return power to parents and reform an Education Department that has lost the plot.”

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News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2025/02/13/linda-mcmahon-education-hearing/