Sen. Lisa Murkowski has, once again, broken with her Republican colleagues – this time to help Democrats maintain the colossal bureaucratic size and scope of the increasingly controversial U.S. Department of Education.
On July 30, Murkowski and her fellow left-leaning Republican Senator Susan Collins voted with Democrats in the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee to pass legislation aimed at stopping President Trump from downsizing the $250 billion federal department that employs more than 4,000 federal workers.
The 13-9 vote aims to block the Education Department from offloading special education and other key offices to alternative federal agencies.
Trump’s goal is to use the Interagency Agreements (IAAs) as an administrative workaround to shrink and effectively dismantle the Department of Education without requiring immediate congressional approval to abolish it entirely.
Democrats, teachers’ unions and entrenched educational bureaucrats see the move as a threat to their control over government-funded education.
This is part of Trump’s ongoing effort to eliminate or drastically reduce the 47-year-old federal department in order to advance his goal of fostering greater local control over education to the states, while reducing D.C. entanglement in classrooms.
Last year, Trump issued an executive order for Education Secretary Linda McMahon to pursue all legal steps to reduce the department “to the maximum extent appropriate and permitted by law,” while also ensuring that key programs and benefits continue.
Elimination of the department in its entirety would require an act of Congress.
In the meantime, Trump wants other departments to take over career and technical education, special education, civil rights enforcement, Indian education programs, student loan portfolios and other areas.
Democrats, teachers’ unions and entrenched educational bureaucrats see the move as a threat to their control over government-funded education.
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In voting against Trump’s initiatives, Murkowski claimed she was defending “the children.”
“We cannot lose sight of the fact that at the end of the day, we’re talking about children,” she said. “Whether it’s children with special needs, whether it’s children in our elementary schools, whether it’s our Native students: (we need to be) making sure that we don’t lose that focus.”
Proponents of shrinking the education department point to the fact that the agency has presided over the decades-long collapse of education in America. Roughly 32 million to 35 million K-12 students are now unable to read or perform math at grade level. According to national education metrics, approximately 65% to 70% of students are failing reading, while 60% to 78% are failing in math.
Despite the recent vote, the legislation still needs to pass the full Senate, where it is expected to be hotly debated.
12 Comments
Is this the Lisa “murky” who wants to continue killing the unborn babies? She really cares about the children? Is this the :Murky” who wants to protect PBS who is promoting sexually explicit programs for the children? Keep your children away from her!!!
Follow the money. How much does Murkowski get from the various teachers’ unions? She generally does what she gets paid for.
Of course she is owned and operated by the teachers union
Lisa what a Loser, another reason to vote yes on 2 to end RCV. So we can vote Lisa out, good bye.
The federal dept. of “education ” has been used to degrade real learning for decades. Billions of dollars to instruct children what to.think, not how to think and learn. The federal programs supply grants of money used by leftist organizations like the NEA, AFT, publishing houses and the like. The results are lower scholastic achievement for students, larger budgets for the social engineers.
A stupid population is easily mislead , covid being a prime example. College age kids supported Hamas and don’t know where Gaza is on the map, or any details of the massacre they executed. We are near critical mass of gullible skulls of mush trained to seek oblivion. Let’s stop this destructive waste of money for “the children” and their endless new programs every year. How many more DEI trained Supreme Court justices can we survive.?
spot on
Defending what children? She is the Queen of Abortion and has committed herself and Alaska to more abortions per capita than any other state. I’m sure she thinks there are new born babies in Alaska or maybe some, but she is working hard to make sure Alaska stands out as Abortion Industry Plus in the USA because Murkowski is the Witch of the North and Queen of Abortions in the US Senate. The Education Department is done and gone. Reorganization is just that way. Those positions are abolished as of the date the president signed the reorganization charts and letters and the executive orders. Done is done and gone is gone! Yahoo! The states have control of their education of the young!!
Lisa Murkowsky is anti-American. The majority of Americans want to secure our election system, she doesn’t. A majority of Americans support President Trump, Lisa doesn’t. Americans want to return to the days of justice and righteousness Lisa doesn’t. Lisa is for sell and the Deep State has purchased her, probably her Daddy too. This woman is evil to the bone, and her moral fortitude is based on what her outside donors tell her to base it on.
She needs to just declare as a Democrat and get it over with .
The epitome of a slimy politician. If you’ve ever had an opportunity (?) to meet and talk with her in person, that position becomes crystal clear. I’ve sat in her DC office and suffered through her obvious disdain for her constituents and have presented to the same audience as she. She talks down to crowds as though she speaks to learning disabled children. It’s not my imagination. She exudes a palpable disdain for anyone not in lockstep with her positions. She is NOT a conservative representative. Not even close. Total phony politician.
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If Frank and Nancy had been consistent with Lisa’s pro-planned parenthood, pro-abortion position and taken action accordingly, this would be mute!