07.16.25

Senate & House Education Leaders Statement on Trump Admin Illegally Moving Department of Education Programs to DOL as Part of Its Efforts to Dismantle the Department

   

ICYMI: Murray, DeLauro, Scott, Baldwin Call on Department of Education to Immediately Cease Illegal Plan to Transfer Career and Technical Education Program Responsibilities to Labor Department

    

Washington, D.C. — Today, Vice Chair Patty Murray (D-WA), Senate Appropriations Committee; Ranking Member Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP); Ranking Member Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services (HHS), and Education; Ranking Member Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (D-VA-03), House Committee on Education and Workforce; and Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro (D-CT-03), House Appropriations Committee and Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Subcommittee, issued the following statement after the Department of Education (ED) and Department of Labor (DOL) announced plans to transfer career and technical education and adult education programs from ED to DOL. 

  

“The Court’s ruling to allow the Trump administration to dismantle the Department of Education as litigation continues sets a troubling precedent. Congress authorized and appropriated funds to the Department of Education to carry out career and technical education programs. The law of the land has not changed. If this administration is able to do this, no education program that our teachers, parents, and children rely on is safe from an administration more interested in executing its extreme agenda than helping students.  

  

“Let’s be clear: this is not about cutting through red tape or returning education to the states. This is about dismantling the Department of Education and attacking our public education system. This is yet another illegal action by this administration that ignores the rule of law. This comes as the Administration is already illegally withholding nearly $7 billion in education funding, including for the Adult Education programs tied up in this illegal transfer. 

  

“Republicans should join Democrats to stand up for our teachers, parents, and students and prevent further destruction of our public education system.”

  

The Department of Education is the agency best fit to administer these workforce development programs. The primary goal of the adult education program is to help adults achieve reading, writing, math, and English language proficiency. Many of the career and technical education (CTE) programs authorized under Perkins V are a part of secondary school curricula that help expose students to career opportunities.  Most CTE students end up enrolling in postsecondary education, not getting a job right out of high school.

  

###