Linda McMahon’s nomination to lead the Education Department cleared a key procedural hurdle Thursday.
The Senate HELP Committee advanced McMahon’s nomination to the Senate floor in a 12-11 party-line vote. The vote comes just one week after McMahon appeared before the panel where she explained President Donald Trump’s plans for the future of the Education Department.
“If confirmed Ms. McMahon has the tall task of reforming a Department of Education that has lost its purpose. For the last four years, the department focused on everything but student learning with bureaucracy and red tape standing in the way of student success,” Senate HELP Chair Bill Cassidy said. “We need a strong leader at the department who will get our education system back on track.”
“Ms. McMahon demonstrated a strong vision for the Department of Education,” the Louisiana Republican added.
Senators grilled McMahon last Thursday on what would happen to programs — such as special education and grants for low-income schools — housed within the agency if the department were to be dismantled or shuttered.
McMahon underscored that lawmakers would not be left out of decisions on the department’s future and insisted that Congress would continue to appropriate funds for the agency’s programs.