Murray, DeLauro, Baldwin Demand Detailed Answers on Trump Admin’s Sweeping Mass Firings at Department of Education
Top appropriators press McMahon on how the Department will carry out requirements of federal law and its critical responsibilities despite far-reaching, illegal firings of approximately 50% of staff
Washington, D.C. — Today, Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Senate Appropriations Committee Vice Chair, Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT-03), Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Committee and the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Subcommittee, and Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Ranking Member of the Senate Appropriations Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Subcommittee, sent a letter to the Department of Education (ED) demanding detailed answers about the mass firings it has conducted and how it is carrying out requirements of federal law and its critical responsibilities despite the sweeping reductions in force.
“We write to request your immediate response to questions we have raised about actions taken by the Department of Education and additional questions related to the massive reduction in force announced on March 11,” write the lawmakers. Citing the wide scope of responsibilities the Department is required by bipartisan laws to undertake to help students learn and thrive, the top appropriators in the Senate and House add: “Recent actions of the Department appear to undermine the Department’s obligation under these laws.”
“The staff at the Department provide real services that impact the daily lives of students and their families from enforcing students’ civil rights and providing transparent information on how our schools are doing to processing critical aid such as Pell Grants to helping low-income students all over our nation attend college and further their careers,” Murray, DeLauro, and Baldwin write. “Firing the people that ensure states, school districts, and institutions of higher education live up to their legal obligations is neither efficient nor accountable.”
In the letter, the lawmakers note that the Department’s staffing levels have largely remained flat in recent years despite significant growth in the programs it administers and the responsibilities it carries out. They write that the mass layoffs and other detrimental actions risk major reductions in support for and oversight of our nation’s K-12 schools and institutions of higher education and threaten vital support for students with disabilities, access to Pell Grants and other financial aid, oversight of student loan servicers, scrutiny of for-profit colleges, and more.
The letter follows an earlier March 6 letter the lawmakers sent alongside colleagues demanding answers about the chaotic, harmful actions taken by ED since January—which the Department has yet to respond to.
“Given the profound change to staff, budgets, and agency operations promised by this administration, it is critical that we receive additional information on these staffing reductions and changes to agency operations,” conclude Murray, DeLauro, and Baldwin before posing a series of detailed questions. “The President’s disregard for appropriations and other laws and the need for stability and productivity in government creates an imperative for the Department to provide accurate, timely responses on its use and planned use of taxpayer resources provided by the laws passed by Congress.”
Full text of the letter is available HERE.
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