House Committee on Education & Workforce Votes In Opposition Of A Democratic Resolution Seeking All Documentation Related to President Trump Efforts to Close the Department of Education, Downsize the Staffing, and Information Regarding the Plans on How to Maintain Operations Following the Executive Actions
Overview
As shared by CSPEN yesterday, the House Committee on Education & Workforce held a markup yesterday on four proposed pieces of legislation (two on elementary and secondary education revision and two on labor issues), along with a resolution – introduced by Ranking Member of the Committee, Robert “Bobby” Scott (D-VA) “requesting the President and directing the Secretary of Education to transmit, respectively, certain documents to the House of Representatives relating to the reduction in force and other downsizing measures at the Department of Education.”
The resolution as proposed by Minority Leader Scott would have required the Secretary of Education to submit to the U.S. House of Representatives within fourteen days every possible communiqué that referred or related to:
(1) The closure of the Department of Education’
(2) Any reduction in force or other downsizing measures at the Department of Education.
(3) Any actions taken pursuant to the Secretary of Education’s March 3, 2025, communication to staff entitled ‘‘Our Department’s Final Mission’’.
(4) Any actions taken pursuant to any Executive Order of the President directing the Secretary of Education to take steps to facilitate the closure of the Department of Education.
(5) Any determinations made by the Executive Office of the President, the Secretary of Education, or the staff of the Department of Education that the staff remaining at the Department after any reduction in force, other downsizing measure, or closure would be sufficient to ensure that the Secretary could faithfully execute the Federal laws that Congress has directed the Secretary to enforce or implement, including—
(A) title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (20 U.S.C. 1681 et seq.);
(B) title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000d et seq.);
(C) the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (20 U.S.C. 1400 et seq.);
(D) section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. 794);
(E) title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12131 et seq.);
(F) the Age Discrimination Act of 1975 (42 U.S.C. 6101 et seq.);
(G) the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6301 et seq.);
(H) the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001 et seq.);
(I) the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act of 2006 (20 U.S.C. 2301 et seq.);
(J) the Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002 (20 U.S.C. 9501 et seq.);
(K) section 444 of the General Education Provisions Act (20 U.S.C. 1232g) (commonly known as the ‘‘Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974’’); and
(L) section 445 of the General Education Provisions Act (20 U.S.C. 1232h) (commonly known as the ‘‘Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment’’).
However, Representative Mary Miller (R-IL) offered an Amendment in the Nature of a Substitute gutting the entire proposal. Following considerable debate on the original proposal and the substitute to strike it in its entirety, the Committee voted against the original Democratic proposal and adopted the Republican proposal down party lines 18-12.
In summarizing the vote, the Republicans state:
“Legislation reported adversely:
H.Res. 237, Of Inquiry requesting the President and directing the Secretary of Education to transmit, respectively, certain documents to the House of Representatives relating to the reduction in force and other downsizing measures at the Department of Education
• Derails efforts to address decades of education failures.
• Supports maintaining the status quo, where less than one-third of our country’s eighth graders can read and do math at grade level.
• Ignores that the Trump administration has been forthcoming with information, and Democrats have skipped all the ordinary oversight steps.”
What’s Next
This afternoon (April 10, 2025) at 2 PM ET, CSPEN will provide more details on the importance and impact of this House Committee vote, and we will also share a tremendous amount of other information on all the activities taking place in Washington over the past couple of weeks. You do not want to miss this detailed update on everything from restructuring of the Department of Education and who/how to contact those responsible for your pending determination and individual guidance, details on the upcoming Federal Negotiated Rulemaking (i.e. dates, locations, talking points), the status of Congressional negotiations on a Federal Budget proposal which has major implications for students and institutions of higher education, and more.
