WASHINGTON, D.C. — Education Secretary Linda McMahon defended the Trump administration's proposed Education Department budget and reorganization plans before a Senate panel on April 28, 2026, fielding questions about students' civil rights and federal education spending. It was McMahon's first appearance on Capitol Hill in nearly a year.
McMahon pledged to shift supervision and enforcement of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act to other agencies, naming the Departments of Labor and Health and Human Services as potential homes for special education programs. The administration's budget proposal includes $16 billion for the law, an increase of $539 million over the prior year. McMahon promised that students would be treated the same regardless of where the programs are housed.
Sen. Patty Murray objected to moving special education out of the department. "Moving special education out of the department is not only undermining that, but it's a direct message to them that their health is more important than their education," Murray said.
The proposed budget would cut $49 million, or 35%, from the Office for Civil Rights, which fields discrimination complaints from students based on race, sex, national origin, and disability. In March 2025, the administration fired more than half of the office's lawyers and staff, and seven of its 12 regional offices were shut down. McMahon said she was open to changing the proposed cut and that the department was working to hire more lawyers to address a backlog of thousands of cases. "I'm not agreeing to that," she said when pressed on the staffing reductions.
McMahon said that, based on the program's own metrics, TRIO — federal programs dating to 1965 that serve more than 800,000 low-income and first-generation students each year on a $1.2 billion budget — is a failure. She said the administration is open to reforming TRIO by shifting focus from college readiness to workforce training. Sen. Jeff Merkley pushed back during an exchange with the secretary. "I do understand and I support passionately the career technical education programs. But we already have those programs. Let's enhance those programs that are working, not convert this program, which serves a very different function," Merkley said.
On Title I, which sends additional dollars to schools with many low-income students, McMahon said the program would be preserved. The proposed budget also requested a $10 billion increase in federal Pell Grants funding. Senators Susan Collins, Mike Rounds, and John Boozman discussed TRIO during the hearing.
The Department of Education is shifting oversight of the federal government's $1.7 trillion student loan portfolio to the Treasury Department. Roughly 88,000 borrowers are waiting to qualify for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness buyback program, which the department says should take 45 days. "My staff tells me that it's often nine months to a year before my constituents get a substantive response," Merkley said.