Linda McMahon steps into nomination ring as Trump’s vow to kill Education Department casts shadow

Months after she was introduced to be President Donald Trump’s choose to guide the Division of Schooling, Linda McMahon is on the recent seat in Capitol Hill on Thursday as she faces senators over the way forward for the company, which the president has vowed to kill.

The Senate Well being, Schooling, Labor and Pensions Committee is holding its listening to to grill McMahon, a businesswoman with shut ties to Trump who has no instructing expertise.

Trump has repeatedly claimed the Division of Schooling has been mismanaged and has broken schooling, calling it a “con job” throughout a information convention on Wednesday.

The president is predicted to signal an govt order directing McMahon to submit a proposal for diminishing the division, after which the president mentioned she ought to “put herself out of a job,” despite the fact that such an motion would require an act of Congress.

Democratic senators have mentioned they intend to scrutinize the nomination based mostly on 76-year-old McMahon’s lack of expertise in public schooling.

McMahon was interrupted by protesters throughout her opening assertion, by which she defended her nomination and pushed for extra faculty selection.

“If confirmed as secretary, I’ll work with Congress to reorient the division towards serving to educators, not controlling them,” she mentioned.

McMahon confirms that solely Congress can shut down DOE

At an govt order signing occasion final week, Trump mentioned, “I instructed Linda, ‘Linda, I hope you do an important job and put your self out of a job.'”

“I need her to place herself out of a job,” Trump added.

The president has maintained that states ought to have management over their colleges.

Nonetheless, abolishing the company can solely be finished if Congress passes laws to get rid of it. Specialists say it’s unlawful to dismantle the division with out congressional authorization, which might require 60 Senate votes in favor of doing so.

HELP Committee Chairman Invoice Cassidy, R-La., and rating member Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., each pressed McMahon on whether or not she believes dismantling the company might be finished with out Congress. McMahon responded that solely Congress would give you the chance to take action.

“It’s arrange by america Congress, and we work with Congress. It clearly can’t be shut down with out it,” McMahon instructed Sanders.

Nonetheless, she instructed Cassidy she is “all for the president’s mission of returning schooling again to the states” and mentioned the states would nonetheless obtain federal funding.

“We need to be working with Congress. We would like to do that proper. We would prefer to ensure that we’re presenting a plan that I believe our senators can get onboard with and our Congress would get on board with that may have a better-functioning Division of Schooling. But it surely actually requires congressional motion,” McMahon mentioned.

McMahon pressed on DEI crackdown

Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., questioned McMahon on Trump’s govt order that prohibits variety, fairness and inclusion applications and the way it will have an effect on colleges.

Murphy cited the closure of ethnic golf equipment at West Level and requested if the federal authorities would go after public colleges that additionally had after faculty golf equipment devoted to minority teams.

The nominee mentioned she must “assess” the applications.

“I imply, you are saying that it is a chance that if a faculty has a membership for Vietnamese-American college students or Black college students the place they meet after faculty, that they could possibly be doubtlessly in jeopardy of receiving federal funding,” Murphy mentioned.

“Once more, I want to totally perceive what that order is and and what these golf equipment are doing,” McMahon mentioned.

“That is fairly chilling. I believe colleges throughout the nation are going to listen to that,” the senator responded.

McMahon’s journey from WWE matriarch to DOE nominee

McMahon co-founded WWE and can also be the corporate’s former president and CEO.

Trump mentioned he selected McMahon for being a “fierce advocate” for parental rights in schooling who will struggle “tirelessly” to develop faculty selection and “spearhead” his effort to ship schooling choices again to the states, in keeping with the president’s official nomination assertion. The president additionally praised McMahon’s management and “deep understanding” of each schooling and enterprise.

McMahon’s private monetary wealth is unclear, however she reported proudly owning belongings which might be price lots of of thousands and thousands of {dollars} and that might surpass $1 billion. The Trump loyalist was co-chair of his presidential transition workforce and is a long-time donor who has given tens of thousands and thousands of {dollars} to assist pro-Trump causes.

McMahon beforehand labored within the first Trump administration as head of the Small Enterprise Administration. She had beforehand made two unsuccessful bids for Senate when she ran towards present Senate Democrats Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy in 2010 and 2012, respectively. She can also be chairwoman of the America First Coverage Institute board however will go away that place if confirmed as secretary of schooling.

McMahon has advocated apprenticeship and workforce coaching applications, faculty selection and parental rights. Though she will not be at present an educator, she obtained her instructing certification from East Carolina College and sat on the Connecticut State Board of Schooling earlier than her first unsuccessful Senate bid. She has additionally had two stints on the Board of Trustees at Connecticut’s Sacred Coronary heart College, the place she is at present the treasurer.

McMahon’s scandals forged shadow over nomination

In the meantime, McMahon’s years as a wrestling govt got here with their share of alleged scandals, which has introduced her expertise with younger folks beneath scrutiny.

A 2024 lawsuit introduced by 5 plaintiffs — John Does who served because the WWE ringside crew after they have been youngsters — accused her and her husband, Vince McMahon, of turning a blind eye to sexual abuse by an announcer and executives on the firm. If confirmed by the Senate, McMahon could be tasked with overseeing sexual misconduct investigations inside teaching programs.

The McMahons have denied the claims.

After questioning McMahon in regards to the Title IX regulation, which prohibits sexual discrimination inside teaching programs, Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., detailed the WWE allegations introduced by 5 plaintiffs and mentioned she is worried about sexual assault survivors on campus.

Invoking her college-aged grandchildren, McMahon mentioned sexual assault survivors can belief her to guard them.

“They actually can belief me to assist them,” McMahon mentioned. “You may have my absolute dedication … [to] shield these investigations to ensure that these college students are handled pretty.”

Laura Brevetti, Linda McMahon’s legal professional, instructed ABC Information that the FBI investigated the decades-old allegations on the time and located no grounds to research them additional, calling the lawsuit “baseless.”

Linda McMahon’s allies have mentioned they imagine she can be an agent of change, a disrupter and the dismantler whom the Division of Schooling wants. Skeptics additionally claimed that the federal company spends an excessive amount of on schooling with out enough educational outcomes.

However many within the schooling neighborhood worry that if McMahon helps Trump abolish the company, it might adversely influence the thousands and thousands of scholars who depend on essential applications overseen by the division which might be meant to assist susceptible college students succeed, resembling Title I funding for college kids from low-income communities.