Lois Frankel To Secretary McMahon: Will You Spend Appropriated Funding 'As Directed By Law'?

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During a House Appropriations Committee hearing on Wednesday, Rep. Lois Frankel (D-FL) questioned Secretary of Education McMahon about the Trump administration's freezing of appropriated funds.

Transcript

00:00Thank you Mr. Moore. Ms. Frankel. Thank you. Welcome. I'm going to just stop by

00:07saying I'm going to echo my ranking member here how deeply troubling it is

00:12that the Trump administration is dismantling the Department of Education

00:16an agency that was established by Congress and you're blatantly

00:21disregarding the funding priorities we set in the 2025 budget without our

00:26consultation or agreement I'm going to move on I speak to you today not just as

00:32a member of Congress but I'm also a mother and a grandmother and I share the

00:36values of millions of Americans who believe that educating our children is

00:40one of our most sacred responsibilities so I have a few questions I'm going to

00:46help answer them and then I have a big one for you at the end so my first

00:51question to myself is what why do we why should we have a strong public

00:59education system and the answer that is because when we educate our children we

01:05invest in their future and ours a quality public education empowers children with

01:10the knowledge skills and confidence to pursue their dreams it opens the doors to

01:15better jobs higher earnings and more fulfilling lives it fuels economic growth

01:20and strengthens our democracy now let me be clear I am NOT opposed to parents

01:24using their own money to send their children to private school but is a strong

01:29public school education system that ensures that every child no matter their

01:34background or zip code has a fair shot at success so my next question for me is

01:40should education only be a state issue and I answer no because education is not

01:46just a state issue it's a national responsibility one that requires a

01:50shared commitment from a local state and federal governments and from civil

01:54society federal support helps close the gaps enforce civil rights and ensure all

01:59schools have the resources they need without it those gaps will only grow wider and

02:04while the state's administration administer education policy and local

02:10control is important it's the federal oversight that guarantees fairness

02:15accountability and equal opportunity from desegregating schools to supporting

02:21students with disabilities to to protecting children from discrimination based on race

02:27and sex disability national origin or shared ancestry the federal government has played a vital role and that's why I strongly

02:35object to this administration's effort to dilute funding for the office of civil

02:41rights the very agency tasked with enforcing those protections and my next

02:46question which I will answer is the claim that public schools are failing our

02:51children a false narrative and that answer is yes a child's ability to learn is

02:58shaped by more than what happens in the classroom it's shaped by a lot of

03:02factors including access to early education food security health care family engagement and this

03:09administration with the Republicans attacking all of it slashing food assistance driving up

03:15costs with chaotic tariffs cutting health care costs for most vulnerable children and families

03:21can you believe a hungry children does not learn I don't care what school they're in and did

03:25you know or do I know yes I know there are hundreds of thousands hundreds of thousands of

03:32children on waiting lists to get into head start a proven program that leads to a child success in

03:38school and in my home county Palm Beach where the president lives millions in education funding in the

03:452025 budget are being illegally held which means our school district is going to be forced to cut

03:50tutoring after school summer programs social services college readiness teacher trainings and student aid for

03:58college students are going to be gone so my next question is is the trump administration sifting money out of

04:05public schools into unregulated private institutions that answer is yes you're cutting billions of public

04:12schools and pushing a new scheme this tax scheme here's how it works wealthy donors give money to private

04:19scholarship groups and then that money gets right back to them through a special tax break so in the end the taxpayers are paying the bill

04:27the money to press the money and the money that we are paying for you to stay there's no oversight and no accountability

04:30well Madam Secretary 90% of our children attend public schools and so I ask you

04:38is your final mission to get rid of the United States Department of Education cool and

04:43foolish oh yes I'm going to answer that yes it is cool and foolish but I have a question for you

04:48if Congress refuses to go along with your misguided plan to dismantle public education or you commit to

04:57spending the money we appropriate in the 2026 budget as directed by law well

05:04that was a lot to unpack but just answer that last question if it could

05:08because you have two seconds we will abide by the law good good answer thank

05:16you I yield back

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