Here Are The Highlights From Linda McMahon’s Hearing

Linda McMahon, President Donald Trump’s nominee for secretary of education, testified before the Senate on Thursday. While the hearing was rife with the kinds of “gotcha” diatribes we have come to expect from Democrats, her answers shed light on some potential issues with administering a department many hope to see abolished.

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McMahon hit many hallmarks of what conservatives are looking for in an education secretary, particularly in her opening statement. She spoke about violent crime on college campuses, teachers burdened by political ideology in curriculums and federal red tape, the lack of workforce readiness offered by high schools and colleges, parental rights, and nosediving test scores.

“[President Trump] pledged to make American education the best in the world, return education to the states where it belongs, and free American students from the education bureaucracy through school choice,” McMahon said. “Education is the issue that determines our national success and prepares American workers to win the future.”

“We can do better for the elementary and junior high school student by teaching basic reading and mathematics, for the college freshmen facing censorship or antisemitism on campus, and for parents and grandparents who worry that their children and grandchildren are no longer taught American values and true history,” she continued. “In many cases, our wounds are caused by the excessive consolidation of power in our federal education establishment. So what’s the remedy? Fund education freedom, not government-run systems. Listen to parents, not politicians. Build up careers, not college debt. Empower states, not special interests. Invest in teachers, not Washington bureaucrats. If confirmed as secretary, I will work with Congress to reorient the department toward helping educators, not controlling them.”

She also said that the goal of the Trump administration is not to cut federal funding to education but rather to return the power to the states, as Trump has articulated. McMahon, who served in the first Trump administration as the administrator of the Small Business Administration, appears to have garnered the support of most, if not all Republicans.

McMahon’s hearing comes after recent National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) scores were released, showing plummeting reading capabilities and abysmal improvement in mathematics among the nation’s schoolchildren. That context was a swift rebuke of Democrats who attempted to argue that the Department of Education is important because it ensures “equal access” to “quality” education, while maintaining some of the worst education performance in the world.

On Wednesday, Trump called the Department of Education a “con job” that he wants closed “immediately” — a longtime goal of many Republicans.

Needs Improvement

While McMahon’s answers largely affirmed why Trump picked her to lead the Education Department, exchanges with lawmakers showed two areas the nominee — and the administration at large — can improve upon after she’s confirmed.

1. No More Identity Months

Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., attempted to needle McMahon, and the broader Trump administration movement to rout out diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) ideology in schools, by talking about an executive order directing agencies to halt all grants to organizations that support DEI.

Another executive order ends “radical indoctrination in K-12 schooling,” and seeks to withhold federal funds from institutions that participate in the “discriminatory equity ideology.”

Murphy asked if schools are in violation of the order if they teach about black history, which is a common lie told by Democrats to distract from their longtime attempts to distort public schooling with fake history.

McMahon said that it would not, and added, “The celebration of Martin Luther King Day and Black History Month should be celebrated throughout all of our schools.”

Trump signed an executive order two weeks ago recognizing Black History Month. But identity months have always been endemic of DEI ideology, just as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth recognized when he canceled all of them for the military with guidance titled “Identity Months Dead at DoD.” The rest of the Trump administration, including the Department of Education, should end identity months too.

Murphy claimed that the organizations affected by the DEI orders, which include schools, are “scrambling because they have no idea what that means.” It is unclear whether he was trying to claim the ideology, which is well documented as existing across government and education, does not exist.

McMahon diagnosed the issue correctly, saying that DEI has done more to segregate schools and sow division than anything else.

“We are getting back to more segregating of our schools, instead of having more inclusion in our schools,” she said. “There are DEI programs that say that black students need separate graduation ceremonies, or Hispanics need separate ceremonies. We are not achieving what we wanted to achieve with inclusion.”

2. Congressionally Appropriated Funds

The Department of Education is ripe for significant cuts, but making sure that every penny of appropriated dollars from Congress is spent will make that task difficult.

When asked by Sen. Angela Alsobrooks, D-Md., whether she would support any effort from Trump to “freeze funds that have been appropriated by Congress,” McMahon replied, “If they’ve been appropriated by Congress, those funds should be disseminated.”

That could mean the department will be beholden to the same spending doom cycle that has kept federal agencies bloated and wasting taxpayer money on nonsense.

Fighting that trend is one of the primary goals of Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought, as he articulated in his own confirmation hearings.

Vought believes the Impoundment Control Act, which blocks the executive branch from spending less money than was appropriated by Congress, is unconstitutional. The capability to be more dynamic and discerning with funds would allow executive agencies to either move funds toward items they find to be a better use, or even block certain funding for offices or projects they deem to be wasteful or even harmful.

Impoundment will be key to culling the massive bureaucracy in each agency, and fulfilling the mission of the Department of Education will likely mean not following congressional directives on which offices need to be funded, even if it is explicit.

Breccan F. Thies is an elections correspondent for The Federalist. He previously covered education and culture issues for the Washington Examiner and Breitbart News. He holds a degree from the University of Virginia and is a 2022 Claremont Institute Publius Fellow. You can follow him on X: @BreccanFThies.