'If You Can't Do That, You Shouldn't Be In This Job': Suzanne Bonamici Lambasts Secretary Linda McMahon

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At a House Education & Workforce Committee hearing on Wednesday, Rep. Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR) questioned Education Sec. Linda McMahon about spending appropriated funding.

Transcript

00:00Oregon, Ms. Bonobici. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Secretary McMahon on February 13th, during your

00:06confirmation hearing, Senator Murray asked you, if confirmed, do you commit to getting every dollar

00:12we have invested in our students and our schools out to them? And you replied, well, the appropriated

00:17dollars and those monies that are passed by Congress, yes. And Senator Alsobrooks asked you

00:23whether you would support any directive from the president to freeze funds that have been

00:26appropriated by Congress. And you responded, if they have been appropriated by Congress, those funds

00:32should be disseminated. Yet you stood by as Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency froze

00:38or terminated more than a billion dollars in congressionally directed federal grants at the

00:42Department of Education. And you've made no attempts to reinstate those funds. So Secretary McMahon,

00:48were you not being truthful when you were testified in the Senate? And if you were being truthful,

00:53what is your plan to immediately reinstate these funds? Well, I thank you for that question. And I

00:58would like to perhaps explore with you a little further as to exactly which grants you were talking

01:03about. I believe- The $1 billion in congressionally directed federal grants that have been cut.

01:08And as I said, I would like to work with you and to understand exactly which cuts, which grants you're

01:14talking about. I can also tell you that as part of my testimony- Madam Secretary, I'm reclaiming my time

01:19because the question is, congressionally directed funds have been cut. What are you doing to reinstate

01:25those funds? And I also said in that testimony that we would abide by the law. And that's exactly

01:30what we will do. Well, that would be to reinstate the funds. And I know you have this so-called

01:35simplified funding program that consolidates programs, including Title 4A, which I always lead

01:42the appropriations letter for. But overall, this consolidation, so-called consolidation, leads to

01:48a $4.5 billion cut. So that makes your statement untruthful if you're not doing anything to restore

01:54those funds. With regard to Title 4A, can you name one of the major categories in Title 4A where

02:00well cuts will lead to a well-rounded education or world-class education as you state?

02:05Well, let me respond to one other thing that you asked before. And when you were talking about the

02:09cuts of $4.5 billion, along with that cut goes a great reduction in the cost of regulatory compliance.

02:19Madam Secretary, I need to reclaim my time because I want you to answer the question about which

02:22category in 4A where cutting will lead to a world-class education.

02:25I'm certainly going to answer your question. But also, I think it's important for this committee

02:29and for taxpayers to understand that when we cut red tape for regulations-

02:33I understand. Madam Secretary, I have to reclaim my time because you're not answering my question.

02:37Well, I'm trying to answer your question. The cuts have happened, and as Secretary of Education,

02:41your job is to faithfully execute the law. Right. And if you can't do that, you shouldn't be in this

02:46job. I have another question for you. Since you've been in office, you've violated or stated your

02:50intention to violate several major federal laws that have been enacted by Congress. And one of them I

02:55want to talk about is the Education Sciences Reform Act. So that's what I'll focus on. Congress enacted the

03:01law more than 20 years ago and created the Institute of Education Sciences. IES provides evidence-based

03:07data to improve student outcomes and support teachers. But the Trump administration unilaterally

03:13canceled more than $900 million in IES grant funding and reduced IES staff from 175 to fewer than 20

03:21employees, a reduction of about 90%. So Secretary McMahon, what statute authorizes you to unilaterally

03:28dismantle an office Congress created? What we have done to the benefit of those grants is to – well,

03:35first of all, let me say that there are a lot of contracts that are done in IES. So none of those

03:41contracted services have been affected. And also, what is part of IES and the funding you're talking about

03:49are for NAEP. And the NAEP program is already in place for the next five years. However, we did

03:54renegotiate that contract and save $540 billion. And you can do that with fewer than 20 employees,

04:01is what you're saying? We are doing it because we are able to continue doing what we do because the

04:06contracted services which are still in place have not been affected. Yeah, it's hard to believe that

04:10you can meet the statutory obligations without money or adequate staff. What do the NAEP scores show when

04:15disaggregated by income, by the way? I beg your pardon? What do the NAEP scores show when disaggregated

04:20by income? When disaggregated – I don't understand the question. By income. Okay. Well, maybe you should

04:26look at the NAEP scores because what they say – you and the chairman and a lot of members of this

04:31committee use the NAEP scores to talk about how education is doing. What we really need to look

04:35at is how we address low-income students. Are you talking about – Oh, okay. You're talking about

04:38performance and achievement gaps. Okay. I get it now. Yes. Okay. Well, NAEP scores, I think,

04:43continually show what we all know to be true. I think – I've looked at it in my state of Connecticut.

04:48It's one of the things that first got me into government. I looked at the achievement gaps,

04:53and that's what I wanted to make sure that we were servicing. And as my time expires,

04:57Madam Secretary, what they show is that we need to have investments to help our low-income students

05:02succeed, and you are cutting those investments. And I – I ran for Congress because I wanted to make

05:07public education better, but not just for a few, not just those who are worthy of private dollars,

05:11and not just those in wealthy neighborhoods, but every single student. As Secretary of Education,

05:17I hope you would have the same goal. I do. And thank you.

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