On April 28, Education Secretary Linda McMahon testified before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies (LHHS) to defend the administration’s Fiscal Year 2027 (FY27) budget request. The Department of Education (ED) requested $76.5 billion, a $2.3 billion reduction from the FY26 enacted level.
Subcommittee Chair Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) expressed a desire to continue bipartisan work on education funding while raising concerns about national assessment scores remaining below pre-pandemic levels. Capito voiced support for McMahon’s approach of tailoring federal education spending to state and local needs and highlighted the budget’s strong funding for Title I, charter school programs, and Pell Grants.
In contrast, Ranking Member Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) offered a sharply critical assessment, characterizing the Trump Administration’s agenda as an effort to undermine ED’s core mission and illegally dismantle it. She pointed to the withholding of more than $7 billion in formula grant funds, which states were forced to sue to recover, as well as an $800 million cut to education research and data, but did not explicitly mention the Institute for Education Sciences (IES).
FABBS remains committed to protecting IES. We are actively engaging congressional offices, coordinating with the broader stakeholder community, and submitting testimony to advocate for strong top-line funding in FY27 for IES and to ensure that FY25 and FY26 funds are spent as appropriated by Congress (see FABBS reporting).
McMahon’s opening statement framed the administration’s budget around the theme of “educational renewal.” She noted that after traveling to more than 30 states, she found that empowering local leaders and directing federal dollars toward evidence-based programs is driving an “educational renaissance.” McMahon also indicated the administration is weighing a transfer of Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) oversight to either HHS or the Department of Labor. Notably, the budget proposes a $539 million increase in IDEA funding.
Witness Questions
Baldwin pressed McMahon on whether the Department of Labor has the capacity to manage the expanded grant portfolio being transferred to it. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) echoed these concerns, questioning whether families would then have to navigate a bureaucratic maze of multiple agencies. McMahon responded that the administration is not abandoning its federal obligations, but rather transferring tasks to more efficient departments.
Baldwin also argued that implementing the “Science of Reading” (see past FABBS article) at scale could not be achieved by individual school districts acting in isolation. She contended that a centralized ED is essential to provide the research, oversight, and technical assistance necessary to ensure evidence-based literacy instruction reaches every student.
The budget proposes eliminating all federal funding for TRIO — a program that supports low-income students in pursuing higher education — drawing criticism from both Democratic and Republican senators, including Appropriations Committee Chair Susan Collins (R-ME) and Senator Mike Rounds (R-SD). McMahon argued that TRIO has failed to meet its own metrics and suggested the Administration was open to reforming the program to incorporate apprenticeships and workforce training pathways.
Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) confronted McMahon over the department’s cancellation and holdings of grants due to the Administration’s crackdown on DEI initiatives. When McMahon justified these actions by stating that DEI terminology in the grants were “against the statutes we’ve put in place,” Reed asked for the statutory language that requires these grants to satisfy DEI tests. It’s important to note that Executive branch agencies do not have the authority to create statutes; only Congress does.
McMahon’s congressional engagement is likely to remain contentious. Just two days after the LHHS hearing, a mandated biweekly roundtable with the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) was canceled after Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA) announced plans to livestream the closed-door session to news organizations. Democrats called the cancellation an attempt to avoid transparency; Republicans and McMahon argued Democrats had violated a good-faith agreement to keep the meeting private.
