Dismantling the Department of Education

Floor Speech

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Ms. BONAMICI. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for organizing this Special Order hour but also for her leadership. We are so fortunate to have Representative Hayes on the Committee on Education and Workforce, National Teacher of the Year, and I will say what an honor it is to serve with the gentlewoman.

Mr. Speaker, I ran for Congress because I care so much about public education. Although I haven't been a teacher, I spent a lot of time in public schools myself, as a parent volunteer, serving on committees, and advocating for education over the years.

Little did I ever dream that I would come to Congress and have to fight for the actual existence of the Department of Education. We are watching--and I condemn in the strongest terms--this illegal and unconstitutional dismantling of the Department of Education. What message does it say to our country and around the world that we won't have a Department of Education? We are going to fight this because we know that the Department of Education was created by an act of Congress, and only Congress can eliminate it.

We look at what is happening with all of these programs--the programs that help low-income students, students with disabilities, and higher ed.

I got through community college and college and law school because I had Federal support. Programs like TRIO and GEAR UP that help underserved students, these are all under attack. It feels like we are just watching the unfolding of the Project 2025 playbook. Now we are seeing the Secretary try to outsource all of these things to other agencies.

Mr. Speaker, I tell you: Poll after poll shows that the majority of parents across the country support the Department of Education, and that is especially true with parents of students with disabilities. They know how important that is. I tell you: Over my years and decades as an education advocate, I have never had anyone say to me: We need less money for IDEA.

It is always: Please fully fund IDEA.

People know that public education is an investment. They know that our students are our future. Yet we are seeing a Congress here where our colleagues, Representative Hayes, found $170 billion with a b--$170 billion to give to the Department of Homeland Security to carry out an inhumane mass deportation agenda.

Imagine if we had $170 billion to carry out a mass education agenda. That would be wonderful for our country and for our economy. I tell you: Right now, we are seeing this war on public education, but we are not going to back down.

I think about the education laws. I know Ranking Member Scott talked about the civil rights obligations of the Department of Education, and we know that a lot of the education laws that came about were signed by President Johnson in the civil rights era to expand opportunities and to close opportunity gaps.

Right now, there are approximately 25,000 pending civil rights complaints at the Office for Civil Rights, which has been gutted.

Mr. Speaker, 7 of the 12 regional offices were closed, and 90 percent of the Office for Civil Rights employees have been issued termination notices. Now the Department has tried to call some of them back because they can't handle the backlog. That is government inefficiency, not government efficiency.

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Ms. BONAMICI. Look at the interagency agreements, where they are trying to outsource all of these programs to other agencies that don't have the staff, don't have the expertise, and Congress didn't approve it.

I am here with you today, Representative Hayes, to say: We need the Department of Education. The Republican majority cannot abolish that. The Trump administration cannot abolish the Department of Education without congressional aid.

I wanted to ask Representative Hayes: We have had some conversations, you and I, where we hear people say: Well, we have to close down the Department of Education because students aren't doing as well now ever since the Department of Education existed.

If you will engage in a brief colloquy with me, and let's talk about why that is an erroneous assumption.

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Ms. BONAMICI. Absolutely.

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Ms. BONAMICI. That is why we have Federal education research, which they are also trying to cut. I tell you: If we could fully fund IDEA, if we could fully fund title I for low-income schools, fund title II for professional development, fund title III for English language learners, and fund title IV-A for well-rounded education that includes the arts and music, school security, and technology, imagine.

What would that look like, Representative Hayes?

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Ms. BONAMICI. Absolutely. Kids can't learn if they are hungry, if they are homeless, or if they are sick. Those programs really matter.

I thank Representative Hayes for leading this. We must protect the Department of Education. It is the future of our children.

More than 90 percent of the students in this country attend public schools. It is a good investment, and that is true from early childhood to the K-12 system and higher education, as well.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Mrs. Hayes. I am with her in the fight.

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