Republican lawmakers plan to push legislation to fully abolish the Department of Education after President Donald Trump authorized a directive on Thursday that initiates the dismantling of the agency.
Trump signed an executive order Thursday instructing Education Secretary Linda McMahon to close down the Education Department, following through on a long-standing campaign promise and goal of the conservative movement.
“The Secretary of Education shall, to the maximum extent appropriate and permitted by law, take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Department of Education and return authority over education to the States and local communities while ensuring the effective and uninterrupted delivery of services, programs, and benefits on which Americans rely,” the order reads.
Trump’s executive action requires the Education Department to examine all of its funds to ensure that they comply with federal law and do not go toward promoting left-wing diversity, equity, and inclusion programs or gender ideology.
Congressional Republicans and state-level GOP officials responded enthusiastically to Trump’s order, which is expected to receive significant legal challenges over Trump’s presidential authority. Without Congress, Trump cannot fully abolish the department, created in 1979 under former President Jimmy Carter.
Senator Bill Cassidy (R., La.), who is up for reelection in 2026, vowed to immediately introduce legislation to dismantle the department to fully achieve Trump’s objective.
“I agree with President Trump that the Department of Education has failed its mission. Since the Department can only be shut down with Congressional approval, I will support the President’s goals by submitting legislation to accomplish this as soon as possible,” Cassidy announced Thursday on X.
Another GOP senator, Mike Rounds (S.D.) told Fox News that he has been in talks with Trump to reintroduce legislation meant to eliminate the Education Department and reassign some of its programs to other agencies, a proposal Rounds has long stood for.
“Congress should follow the executive branch’s lead and act accordingly. I am working on legislation that would return education decisions to states and local school districts while maintaining important programs like special education and Title I. We are discussing this legislation with Secretary McMahon, and we believe there is a very good path forward,” Rounds said.
Representative Thomas Massie (R., Ky.), a recent target of Trump’s ire over his opposition to the House GOP’s government funding bill, called on his Republican colleagues to support his bill designed to abolish the Education Department.
“Congress should support President Trump’s bold agenda by passing my bill, HR 899 to Abolish the Department of Education. We could also use recisions and the budget reconciliation process, which only require 51 votes in the Senate, to back him up,” Massie posted on X. He also shared a list of the 31 House Republicans who already have co-sponsored his bill, most of whom originally did so when he introduced it in January.
Congressional Republicans have yet to send a budget reconciliation package to Trump’s desk, as the GOP majorities in both chambers hold different strategic visions for how to approach the federal budget legislation.
Trump nominated McMahon to run the Education Department with the intention of making her job obsolete. She has voiced enthusiasm for tearing the agency down and returning education policy to the states to primarily oversee.
Since being confirmed earlier this month, McMahon has already moved to terminate close to half the agency’s workforce, with layoffs spread across all departments. The Education Department’s $268 billion budget is a small portion of federal government spending, but conservatives have long sought to eliminate the agency because of its role in promoting left-wing ideology nationwide.
Most of the Education Department’s responsibilities consist of enforcing federal civil rights law, distributing grants, and overseeing federal student loans at discounted rates. Trump promised during the ceremony for his executive order that certain functions of the department, including Pell Grants and resources for special-needs children, will be preserved within other executive agencies and departments.