Nomination of Linda McMahon
Floor Speech
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Mrs. MURRAY. Madam President, I got my start in politics as a mom in tennis shoes fighting to protect a preschool program, and I still wear that label proudly. I am a former preschool teacher. I am also a former community college educator, and I am also a former school board member. So I don't mess around when it comes to making sure every single one of our students, in every corner of our country, has access to quality public education, one that leaves them prepared for the future and opens the doors of opportunity wide. It is not a responsibility I take lightly; it never will be.
Our kids are the future of this country, and the Department of Education is really at the heart of how we make sure they are set up for success. But Donald Trump and Elon Musk want to rip the heart out of public education in America and abolish the Department of Education--well, not if I can help it.
That is why I believe we need a leader at the Department of Education who actually believes in the mission of the Department of Education. We need a Secretary of Education with a really deep understanding of how to use this crucial position to strengthen educational opportunities and outcomes for every student in this country. We need a Secretary of Education who will put students first, not billionaires; who will stand up for our kids--every single one of them--even if it means standing up to Donald Trump and Elon Musk.
On each of these counts, Linda McMahon fails to make the grade. I have had concerns from the outset about whether Mrs. McMahon has the experience we should expect from an Education Secretary, and I am sorry to say my concerns have not been alleviated--far from it.
I asked her in our confirmation hearing about the Every Student Succeeds Act. That is the law I negotiated with Republicans to finally fix No Child Left Behind and to provide more flexibility to our States and schools, while ensuring accountability for our tax dollars. She couldn't name a single requirement of that law--not one. How is she supposed to enforce our education laws when she didn't even bother to study up before her Senate confirmation hearing?
On fighting for public schools, it is painfully clear that McMahon's plan for our students and schools is in lockstep with Trump's pro- billionaire agenda. They are going to let public schools get robbed blind as the richest people in the world suck money out of our schools and communities that need it the most. They are going to cut off funding that directly supports our students and teachers and send it straight to the pockets of unaccountable private and for-profit K through 12 schools.
And on standing up for our students, standing up to President Trump, Linda McMahon got it backward. When I asked her, at the hearing, about making sure schools get the money that we--Congress--pass, even if Trump and Musk try to block it, and making sure that our students' data is protected, as DOGE tries to muck around with no oversight or accountability, she made it very clear she would not stand in their way.
But it gets worse, because when it comes to Trump's mission of destroying the Department of Education, she is all too ready to grab a hatchet and get to work.
The irony is that while Trump and Musk talk about eliminating the Department of Education, they are trying to involve the Federal Government even deeper into the schools than ever before. They talk about how schools and parents know best, and then they threaten schools if they don't do what they say. Apparently, Mrs. McMahon thinks: Why should we have a Department of Education if Trump and Elon Musk can actually just tell schools what they can do and what they can teach?
Let's be clear on what it will mean if Trump, Musk, and McMahon have their way and try to turn the Department of Education into something that kids read about in our history books. There are 26 million K through 12 students from low-income neighborhoods who could see their schools lose Federal funding, lay off teachers, or even close. There are 9.8 million students at our rural schools that count on Federal support, which could face similar challenges. There are 7.4 million students with disabilities who could see the IDEA Program upended, cutting off support that State and local taxpayers will need to provide.
There are 6.6 million students who get Pell grants to help them afford college or enter the workforce or further their careers who would be impacted by the chaos of abolishing the Department. And there are 8.1 million high school students and 3.3 million college students who are served by our career and technical education programs that are administered by the Department of Education.
Trying to abolish the Department, or even just taking a wrecking ball to the critical work that it does, will hurt our students who face homelessness. It will cut off Federal aid to students who want to pursue a higher education. It will undermine the enforcement of the rights of students with disabilities. It will reduce assistance intended to lift up students not getting the support they need. It will weaken protections for students and scrap evidence-based research that helps us know what is working, for whom, and how. And it will leave for-profit colleges free to rip off students and families, which we have seen happen in the past, and we can't let that happen again.
So the fact that Mrs. McMahon has not opposed Trump's grand plan to abolish the Department of Education is not just a redflag to me. It is a blinking, blaring fire alarm. It means either she doesn't fully understand just what the Department does and how devastating it would be to abolish it, or she doesn't care. Either way, I find that disqualifying.
So here is my message to everyone. Like any good preschool teacher, I will make it short and simple: We cannot have a Secretary of Education who doesn't believe in having a Secretary of Education.
It is kind of common sense. Why would we have someone in charge of the Education Department who thinks it should not exist, who doesn't care if we have a Department focused on getting our students and schools the support they need.
Madam President, let me finish with this. I still have in my office a quilt that my kids in my preschool made for me on the very last day I taught preschool. It is hung prominently on the wall of my biggest meeting room. It is a beautiful patchwork of squiggles and smiles drawn in bright, messy crayon. When I look at it, I remember the little hands that made each one of those squares. I think about those little heads with big, curious minds and a world of possibility before them. I remember the responsibility that we all felt to make sure they were leaving our preschool ready to succeed. I wonder how many of those children that made those little, small squares now have kids of their own, and I reflect on how the decisions we make in education today--the policies that we fight for, the people that we confirm or reject here-- will set a course for our children and our country for years to come.
There are two clear courses ahead of us with this vote: one where we have a Department of Education that continues to work to support every student and give them the brightest possible future or one where we don't--one where every kid is on their own, one where lights are turned off and doors are shut and opportunities are closed, unless you happen to have the right ZIP Code or the right money.
I know which future I am going to vote for today: the one where we live up to our responsibility and all of our kids can live up to their fullest potential and pursue big dreams. I urge my colleagues to join me today in voting for that future and against Linda McMahon for Secretary of Education.
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