Former Education Secretary Arne Duncan said President Trump’s plan to eliminate the Department of Education is “not going to happen,” citing necessary congressional action.
“First of all, (the Trump administration) cannot eliminate the Department of Education,” he told “NewsNation Now,” on Wednesday. “That takes an act of Congress. That’s not going to happen.”
Duncan, however, stressed that the White House could still move to neuter the department.
“Could they weaken the department? Could they move functions to other agencies — to Health and Human Services, to the Labor Department, to Treasury? That is possible,” he said.
Trump is preparing to gut the Education Department to the full extent of his power, directing his administration to slash spending while pressuring employees to quit. Yet his promise to close the department is colliding with another reality: Most of its spending — and its very existence — is ordered by Congress.
An executive order in preparation by the White House appears to recognize the limits of the president’s power. The planned order would direct his education chief to start winding down the agency but urge Congress to pass a measure abolishing it, according to sources familiar with the plan.
Trump has yet to sign such an order, but at a White House press conference Tuesday, Trump quipped about the first task for Linda McMahon, his nominee for Education secretary.
“I want Linda to put herself out of a job,” Trump said.
The president campaigned on a pledge to close the department, saying it has been infiltrated by “radicals, zealots and Marxists.” In the nearly five decades since the agency was created, conservatives have made occasional attempts to shut it down, with critics saying it wastes taxpayer money and inserts the federal government into local education decisions.
Duncan said the answer to America’s struggles in education is more resources, not fewer.
“One of the absolute joys of my job was to travel to all 50 states and visit hundreds and hundreds of schools,” he said. “And I promise you, for every educational challenge we have, we have many that are being solved somewhere.”
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