House Republican lawmakers are introducing legislation to repeal the charter for the National Education Association that “removes Congress’s congressional seal of approval” from the organization.
The NEA was chartered in 1906 and is the only congressionally chartered labor union. However, the National Education Association Charter Repeal Act, sponsored by Rep. Mark Harris (R-NC), would revoke that charter, as Republicans argue the organization has “morphed into a mouthpiece for left-wing extremism.”
Recommended Stories
- Democrats stall immigration hearing with flurry of subpoena requests for Noem and Miller
- Former Biden aide Anthony Bernal invokes Fifth Amendment in House Oversight Committee autopen investigation
- Trump strikes deal with GOP holdouts on GENIUS Act during 'crypto week'
“Our kids deserve classrooms that educate, not brainwash,” Harris said during a Wednesday presser unveiling the bill. “There’s zero justification for the United States Congress to continue giving them our stamp of approval.”
This is not the first attempt by lawmakers to repeal the NEA’s charter. Rep. Scott Fitzgerald (R-WI) and now-Sen. Jim Banks (R-IN) introduced the legislation in 2022, and former Virginia GOP Rep. Bob Good sponsored the bill in the 118th Congress. Both times, it never passed out of committee.
Republicans have said the NEA has “abandoned” its core mission, which is detailed in the charter as elevating “the character and advancing the interests of the profession of teaching and promoting the cause of education in the United States.”
Moms for Liberty CEO Tina Descovich, who attended the presser, said her organization supports the legislation. She blasted the NEA for involving itself in politics instead of focusing on education, saying Moms for Liberty has had the NEA “on our radar” since it launched in 2021.
She criticized the NEA’s post that “Educators love their students and know better than anyone what they need to do to learn and thrive.”
“We at Moms for Liberty wholeheartedly reject that statement,” Descovich said. “Parents love their children more than anyone, and they know better than anyone what is best for their children.”
Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) is introducing the legislation in the Senate, while Reps. Ralph Norman (R-NC) and Mary Miller (R-IL) are original co-sponsors of the House’s bill. Other co-sponsors include Reps. David Rouzer (R-NC), Randy Fine (R-FL), Andy Ogles (R-TN), Josh Brecheen (R-OK), Byron Donalds (R-FL), Chip Roy (R-TX), Andy Biggs (R-AZ), and Bob Onder (R-MO).
Norman said the bill won’t dissolve the NEA. Instead, it will send a “strong message” that “your tax dollars are no longer endorsing the extremist politics” of the NEA.
Removing a congressional charter is mostly a symbolic gesture. It does not receive federal funding, but the charter allows the NEA to receive tax exemptions for its “personal property” from the District of Columbia.
Most of the NEA’s funding comes from member dues. In 2022, the organization collected $374,720,347 in dues, according to the 74 Million. The money is distributed roughly equally between grants to state and local affiliates, administrative costs for its headquarters in Washington and offices around the country, and benefits and salaries for NEA officers and employees.
According to Influence Watch, the NEA and associated political action committees contributed nearly $143.5 million to federal candidates and committees, 97% of which supported Democrats or center-left related groups, from 1990 through February 2019.
Due to the GOP’s slim majorities, Harris’s bill would need to receive all but three Republicans’ support to become law if it comes to the floor. Once Rep. Mark Green (R-TN) retires, that margin will narrow to just two votes. It’s unclear whether all Republicans, including those in swing districts or blue states, would vote to remove the NEA charter.
The House lawmakers’ move against the NEA comes a few days after the Supreme Court granted the Trump administration’s request to temporarily pause an order from a Massachusetts federal judge that requires the Education Department to reinstate nearly 1,400 employees as part of President Donald Trump’s sweeping reduction of the federal workforce.
The steps to dismantle the department are still in motion. Trump signed an executive order in March instructing Education Secretary Linda McMahon to “take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure” of the department. He has repeatedly promised to return the responsibility of education to the states.
JEWISH ORGANIZATIONS URGE TEACHERS UNION AGAINST CUTTING TIES WITH ADL
However, the president can’t completely eliminate the department without congressional approval, as it was established by Congress in 1979. To do so would require 60 votes in the Senate, meaning seven Democrats would need to join all GOP lawmakers in supporting the move. Democrats have been vocally against the Republicans’ approach to education since the trifecta took effect in January, so that outcome is highly unlikely.
The Washington Examiner reached out to the NEA for comment.