00:00opening statement. Thank you. Good morning, and thank you, Chair Capito, and Secretary
00:06McMahon, thank you for being here today. We're here to talk about the President's fiscal year
00:132026 budget request for the Department of Education, and I look forward to working with
00:18Chair Capito and all the members of this committee on developing a fiscal year 2026 appropriations
00:25bill that funds the Department of Education. But before we can turn to the next fiscal year,
00:322026, the Department is still refusing to tell Congress and the American public how it is spending
00:40billions of taxpayer dollars this fiscal year. The Department was required to submit an operating
00:47plan last month detailing how it was spending fiscal year 2025 appropriated funding, and it
00:54included 13 billion dollars in funding it characterized as unallocated. That's flatly
01:02unprecedented and unacceptable. This committee needs to know how you're planning to spend
01:09appropriated funding, and our constituents certainly deserve to know how their taxpayer dollars are being
01:15spent. State and school districts need to know how much federal funding they should expect to receive
01:22starting in less than one month. This administration obviously doesn't agree. Ironically, the budget
01:31request for next fiscal year includes more detail than the spend plan for this year. The lack of
01:38transparency combined with this budget request raises serious questions about what are you trying
01:44trying to hide and why? This all stems in part, Madam Secretary, because this administration seems focused above
01:52all else on dismantling the Department of Education to score political points, regardless of the impact on tens of
02:02millions of students, including some 800,000 public school students in the state of Wisconsin. Even issues I think we would agree are
02:12priorities such as expanding career and technical education opportunities for students will be
02:18undermined by this administration in the name of eliminating the Department. I am very concerned by reports that you are
02:26trying to move career and technical education programs to the Department of Labor against mandates from Congress, and in a way that could harm students who participate in these vital programs.
02:39There's simply no reason to take this administration at its word when its actions tell a different story.
02:46It has shown time and again the more forcefully it says one thing, the more it is doing the opposite.
02:54So, Madam Secretary, you claim the administration's goal of eliminating the Department is about returning education to the states. At the same time, this administration is attempting to exert more control than the Department of Education
03:06is attempting to exert more control than ever over the decisions in our schools and campuses. This includes demanding that states certify that they are not implementing DEI, which the Department purposefully left vague, so it could cut off funding whenever it chooses. The Department has reversed billions of approved spending extensions, with the assertion that the Department could pick and choose the
03:36which congressionally authorized spending to approve or not. And it includes the unprecedented assault on some of our college campuses to exert control over their classrooms and their daily operations.
03:51You claim eliminating the Department is not about cutting funding, but giving more flexibility to states and schools. But at the same time, you are proposing a budget that would cut 12 billion dollars from funding that supports students and
04:06educators. This proposal would eliminate dedicated funding for evidence-based literacy instruction, support for homeless students, and rural schools. The proposal would cut billions from programs that states and school districts can already flexibly use to meet pressing needs. And in place of eliminating all these programs, the budget proposes a block grant a quarter of the size of the program that it replaces.
04:35The budget proposes to cut more than half a billion from education research and statistics, virtually shutting down production of and support for using evidence to improve student achievement. You are proposing to eliminate programs that support non-traditional students in higher education, including TRIO, Gear Up, and See Campus. And you are proposing to drastically reduce the maximum
05:05Pell grant award by almost $1,700, which have a devastating consequence for our nation's lowest income students, including those looking to acquire new skills to meet the needs of local employers and in-demand industries. The math is simple. This budget significantly cuts federal education funding. This issue isn't just what's being proposed in this budget request,
05:35what the department is what the department is what the department is doing right now. Last month, the department decided to not continue $1 billion in multi-year grants that were improving access to mental health care in schools.
05:50This includes funding provided on a bipartisan basis in response to the Uvalde school shooting that took the lives of 19 students and two teachers while injuring 17 others.
06:02Madam Secretary, a recent survey revealed more than a third of Wisconsin's high school students reported feeling depressed, sad, or hopeless almost every day for two weeks or more in a row. We need to be providing more mental health support for our students, not less. The department claims that these grants were not in the federal government's interest.
06:31I repeat that. The department claims that these grants were not in the federal government's interest, but refuses to provide specific reasons why they weren't continued. This funding isn't simply numbers on a spreadsheet or receipts for a website. This was more than 200 grants in nearly 40 states actively being used to increase the number of counselors and mental health professionals in schools.
07:01That's how this administration defines providing more flexibility to schools, by pulling the rug out from under them when they're trying to address the mental health needs of students.
07:14Finally, Madam Secretary, while this administration clearly wants to eliminate the Department of Education, Congress has not passed any law to do so. Quite the opposite, in fact.
07:26Just two and a half months ago, Congress passed an appropriations bill that provided funding to the Department of Education to carry out specific education laws. All laws that passed Congress with overwhelming bipartisan support and that direct the Secretary of Education to carry out specific activities to help ensure every student receives a high-quality education.
07:53I'm deeply concerned that you are planning to ignore this and will attempt to illegally impound funds and dismantle the Department of Education. It will ultimately be students who will pay the price. But if the executive branch is allowed to do that and ignore the laws we pass, I'm not sure what we're doing here.
08:00Fortunately, I still have faith in this committee to reject that approach and to carry out our constitutional duties.
08:07Most importantly, I know we can do better for our nation's students than what this administration is planning and to carry out our constitutional duties.
08:14Most importantly, I know we can do better for our nation's students than this administration is planning and to carry out our constitutional duties.
08:22Most importantly, I know we can do better for our nation's students.
08:29Most importantly, I know we can do better for our nation's students than what this administration is planning and what this budget proposes.
08:38And I look forward to working with my colleagues to do just that.
