Today, Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Health Care and Financial Services, and Rep. Gerald E. Connolly, Ranking Member of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, sent a letter to Secretary of Education Linda McMahon requesting information on how the Department plans to meet its congressionally mandated obligations despite President Trump’s Executive Order to illegally dismantle the agency.
“On March 20, 2025, President Trump signed an executive order directing you to begin closing the Department of Education. The order instructs that the Department’s main functions be sent to the States and that you, ‘to the maximum extent appropriate and permitted by law, take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Department of Education.’ It is not clear how the Administration anticipates implementing this order without massive disruption to students, families, and educators across the country,” wrote the Ranking Members.
In their letter, the Ranking Members note that before the Executive Order was signed, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt stated that “any critical functions of the Department … will remain” under the Department’s purview, including federal student loans and Pell Grants. However, shortly after signing the Executive Order dismantling the Department, President Trump said that certain programs, such as Pell Grants, Title I funding, and resources and funding for children with disabilities, would be “redistributed to various other agencies and departments.”
President Trump has not made clear when or how these transitions will supposedly occur, or how the Department programs will continue to serve students, educators, and families across the country.
“We are concerned that critical programs operated by the Department, including federal student loans and protections for students with disabilities will be seriously disrupted. Notably, many of the agencies to which the Trump Administration wants to assign responsibilities that currently fall under the Department have announced historic cuts to their workforce in recent weeks. If these cuts are implemented, it is doubtful that these agencies will have the capacity to take on major responsibilities currently housed within the Department of Education,” concluded the Ranking Members.
Given the risks that this executive order poses to students, educators, and schools across the country who rely on the critical services the Department oversees, the Ranking Members asked for compliance with their requests no later than May 2, 2025.
Click here to read the letter to Secretary Linda McMahon.
