Dismantling the Department of Education

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I thank my good friend and Representative, the gentlewoman from Connecticut, Representative Hayes, for yielding time. I also thank her for putting together this Special Order hour.

The two of us came to Congress from the classroom. We came from the classroom to the Halls of Congress. The two of us were also locked out of the Department of Education earlier this year when we were demanding answers on when President Trump would illegally try to close the Department.

Since then, we have seen Secretary McMahon fire staff from the building who investigate and protect the civil rights of students. We have seen her slash funding for minority-serving institutions. We have seen her move parts of our education infrastructure to unrelated agencies, creating more hoops for administrators and staff to jump through to get the funding they need.

Last week, the Department of Education announced they are moving to end the SAVE program which some 7 million student loan borrowers rely on to have affordable repayment plans on their student loans.

Grocery prices are up. Utilities are up. Healthcare is about to jump for millions of people, and now some student loan borrowers will have to find money to pay their student loans. The math simply won't work for millions of Americans and for these students who need to pay off their loans.

Secretary McMahon has usurped Congress' role by firing staff, holding up grants that Congress has approved, and running a multimillion-dollar experiment by shuttering the Department and making six different Federal agencies do the work of one.

Democrats have worked to conduct oversight for our Nation's students, but Republicans couldn't care less if title I schools get the funding they need; if students have their civil rights violated; or if the promise of a free, quality education is for all students.

Their agenda is one that seeks to privatize and voucherize the public school system and to make getting degrees and credentials as hard as possible for those who are not well-off or well-connected.

Students, no matter how complex their needs, how much money they come from, how much wealth they come from, or the ZIP Code they grew up in, are entitled to a free, quality education.

Mr. Speaker, if we want to save public education, a free and quality education for all children, we can't have half of this body ready to give up their power and conduct no oversight while permanent changes are being made at the Department of Education.

Secretary McMahon has only appeared before the Education and the Workforce Committee once this year and has since taken the most extreme actions and attacks on public education this country has ever seen.

Republicans must join me and my colleagues in conducting oversight for the students in this country. We are living in a time when more and more Americans don't feel like the American Dream is in reach. I am pleading--pleading--with Republicans to join me--to join us--in giving hope to Americans that the promise of a quality education is still alive for every child.

We cannot delay or wait until harm is brought to any school district or teacher or student. This must end. The mission of the Department must continue. As far as I am concerned and as far as the Democratic Caucus is concerned, the mission of this Department will continue.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source