We Need the Department of Education

Floor Speech

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Ms. BONAMICI. Mr. Speaker, it is all over the news this morning.

In just a few hours, it is expected that Donald Trump will sign an executive order to shut down the Department of Education. I condemn that in the strongest possible terms.

This will slash support for students with disabilities, undermine schools in rural communities, and also eliminate the civil rights protections that people fought and died for.

This executive order will be an illegal and unconstitutional abuse of power. An act of Congress created the Department of Education and only an act of Congress can dismantle it, and we will fight that.

Last month, I introduced H. Res. 94 in defense of public education. We have more than 80 colleagues on that resolution. I want everyone to join us in signing that. Do not let them bulldoze our public education system.

They are going to try to justify it by saying we have to return authority to States and local school boards, but they already have the authority. The Department of Education and the Federal Government don't set curriculum. They don't decide how many kids are in each class. What the Department of Education does is it protects civil rights, gives support to students who are low income and students with disabilities.

Mr. Speaker, we will fight the efforts to defund this important work. If we can't legislate, we will litigate, but we will not back down.

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