Senate confirms McMahon to lead Education Department as Trump pushes to shut it

The US Senate has voted to confirm former wrestling executive Linda McMahon as the nations education chief a role that places her atop a department that President Donald Trump has vilified and vowed to dismantleMcMahon will face the competing tasks of winding down the Education Department while also escalating efforts to achieve Trumps agenda Already the Republican president has signed sweeping orders to rid Americas schools of diversity programs and accommodations for transgender students while also calling for expanded school choice programsAt the same time Trump has promised to shut down the department and said he wants McMahon to put herself out of a job The Senate on Monday voted to confirm McMahon 5145 A billionaire and former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment McMahon 76 is an unconventional pick for the role She spent a year on Connecticuts state board of education and is a longtime trustee at Sacred Heart University but otherwise has little traditional education leadershipMcMahons supporters see her as a skilled executive who will reform a department that Republicans say has failed to improve American education Opponents say shes unqualified and fear her budget cuts will be felt by students nationwide Americans believe in public education Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said before the confirmation vote They dont want to see the Department of Education abolished If the Trump administration follows through on cuts to education schools will lose billions in fundingAt her confirmation hearing McMahon distanced herself from Trumps blistering rhetoric She said the goal is to make the Education Department operate more efficiently not to defund programmes She acknowledged that only Congress has the power to close the department and she pledged to preserve Title I money for lowincome schools Pell grants for lowincome college students and the Public Service Loan Forgiveness programme Yet she suggested some operations could move to other departments saying Health and Human Services might be better suited to enforce disability rights lawsWeeks before McMahons confirmation hearing the White House was considering an executive order that would direct the education secretary to cut the agency as much as legally possible while asking Congress to shut it down completely Some of McMahons allies pressed the White House to hold the order until after her confirmation to avoid potential backlashCreated by Congress in 1979 the Education Departments primary role is to disburse money to the nations schools and colleges It sends billions of dollars a year to K12 schools and oversees a 16 trillion federal student loan portfolio Trump argues the department has been overtaken by liberals who press their ideology on Americas schoolsSchools and colleges have been navigating a demand to eliminate diversity programs or risk having their federal funding pulled The Trump administration gave them a Feb 28 deadline to comply The Education Department addressed questions about its guidance in a document released Saturday saying in part that changing program names that reference diversity or equity alone is not enough if they treat students differently by raceDuring the presidential campaign Trump vowed to close the department and grant its authority to states Schools and states already wield significantly greater authority over education than the federal government which is barred from influencing curriculum Federal money makes up roughly 1437 of public school budgetsAlready the Trump administration has started overhauling much of the departments work Trump adviser Elon Musks Department of Government Efficiency has cut dozens of contracts it dismissed as woke and wasteful It gutted the Institute of Education Sciences which gathers data on the nations academic progress and the administration has fired or suspended scores of employeesSome of the cuts have halted work thats ordered under federal law At her hearing McMahon said the agency will spend money thats directed by Congress and she played down DOGEs cuts as merely an audit McMahon is a longtime Trump ally who left WWE in 2009 to launch a political career running unsuccessfully twice for the US Senate She has given millions of dollars to Trumps campaigns and served as leader of the Small Business Administration during his first termThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever