Sen. Hirono: “Instead of trying to strengthen the Department of Education’s support for our nation’s public schools, Trump and his allies are trying to eliminate the U.S. Department of Education completely.”
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI) took to the Senate floor to slam the Trump Administration’s attacks on the Department of Education (ED) and highlight the importance of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) ahead of its upcoming 50th anniversary on November 29. From withholding billions in federal funding to firing nearly half of the Department’s staff, since the beginning of his second term, Trump has conducted countless illegal actions against ED, an agency that supports over 50 million students across the country.
“It’s clear Trump doesn’t give a rip about our government or the millions of Americans who rely on the services it provides,” said Senator Hirono during her remarks. “Instead of trying to strengthen the Department of Education’s support for our nation’s public schools, Trump and his allies are trying to eliminate the U.S. Department of Education completely.”
For decades, ED has worked to protect students against discrimination and ensure equal opportunities in public schools, especially for students with disabilities. Signed into law in 1975, IDEA protects the rights of more than seven million students with disabilities across the country, helping to ensure these students receive free and appropriate education that meets their needs by providing funding and federal oversight of critical services. However, the Trump Administration has taken several steps to undermine the IDEA, even as it announced last week that it would accelerate plans to reorganize ED by moving dozens of other programs to different agencies.
“Before IDEA was enacted, we did not have these kinds of federal protections for students with disabilities. As a result, there was no way to ensure that students with disabilities were not denied access to education or neglected in our schools,” said Senator Hirono. “Despite the success of IDEA and programs like this, this regime is accelerating plans to dismantle the Department of Education and roll back the progress it has enabled by moving important programs to other departments with no education expertise.”
“I heard from a middle school teacher on Hawaii Island, who emphasized just how unrealistic Trump’s plan is to move oversight of IDEA to another agency outside of the Education Department,” continued Senator Hirono. “He rightly pointed out that other agencies have ‘no expertise in the complex education law that is IDEA.’”
During the recent government shutdown, the Trump Administration illegally fired hundreds of workers from ED, including employees from the Office for Special Education and Rehabilitative Services and the Office for Civil Rights, which play an important role in the implementation of the IDEA. Millions of students rely on the services and programs provided by these offices and the Administration’s actions jeopardized their ability to receive the education they need and deserve. ED Secretary Linda McMahon then made the baseless claim that the shutdown proved ED to be unnecessary.
“This regime makes these kinds of unsubstantiated claims on a regular basis to justify its ill-conceived and often illegal acts,” continued Senator Hirono. “In reality, I had constituents reaching out to my office during the shutdown to share concerns about how furloughs at the Department of Education were impacting Hawaii’s public schools and the students they serve, including the students with disabilities.”
While Trump has stated multiple times that his plan is to eliminate ED as a whole, this action cannot be done without Congressional approval. During her speech, Senator Hirono emphasized that the reckless actions taken by the Trump Administration against ED are all alternative attempts to dismantle the Department.
“This regime is not committed to public education,” concluded the senator. “They don’t see a federal role for public education and that is the long and short of it. We can and must do better to support the education of 50 million plus children in our country.”
The full transcript of Senator Hirono’s speech is available below. Video of Senator Hirono’s floor speech is available here.
I want to thank my colleague from Maryland for his passionate advocacy for IDEA. IDEA is a critical program of the U.S. Department of Education. But let me tell you what is happening to the U.S. Department of Education under President Trump. Mr. President, we have a regime—that’s what I call the Trump Administration—it is a regime hellbent on dismantling the federal government. From withholding billions in federal funding, to conducting mass firings of federal workers, shuttering critical agencies, and implementing countless harmful executive actions, the Trump regime has sown chaos, corruption, and cruelty from Day One. It’s no wonder there are now over 300 lawsuits to stop Trump’s illegal actions.
It’s clear Trump doesn’t give a rip about our government or the millions of Americans who rely on the services it provides. That includes the U.S. Department of Education, which does critical work to ensure our country’s more than 50 million, 50 million public school students can get a quality education. So, instead of trying to strengthen the Department of Education’s support for our nation’s public schools, Trump and his allies are trying to eliminate the U.S. Department of Education completely.
And this has always been part of his plan. He began his second term by summarily, as mentioned, firing nearly half of the Department’s workforce. He did this in one fell swoop. These committed people at the Department of Education were told ‘you don’t have to come to work tomorrow.’ So, this followed the plan laid out basically for President Trump in Project 2025. And just this week, his Secretary of Education laid out plans to slash and dismantle the Department even further.
Mr. President, education is foundational. It certainly was for me, as an immigrant who came to this country not knowing any English—didn’t read or write English—it’s the education system that this country afforded me that provided me [with] the opportunities that resulted in my standing here, giving these remarks. So, while we can all agree there are ways we can improve our education system, we should also be able to agree that there is a role for the federal government in helping to ensure all students—50 million—receive a quality education.
For decades, the Department of Education has played that role—working to protect students against discrimination and ensure equal opportunities in our schools. Of course, one of the ways it does so is by supporting students with disabilities. As noted, signed into law in 1975, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, or IDEA, protects the rights of more than seven million students with disabilities across the country. Seven million. IDEA helps to ensure these students receive free and appropriate public education that meets their needs. It also provides funding—yes, and we need to fund IDEA to the extent that is required—but it does provide funding to help support these students and ensures federal oversight of services for students with disabilities.
Before IDEA was enacted, we did not have these kinds of federal protections for students with disabilities. As a result, there was no way to ensure that students with disabilities were not denied access to education or neglected in our schools. As noted by my colleague from Maryland, many of these students didn’t even get to go to school. They didn’t have IDEA. So, later this month, we’ll celebrate the 50th year of IDEA, the landmark law that has provided millions of young people with access to free and appropriate public education. Despite the success of IDEA and programs like this, this regime is accelerating plans to dismantle the Department of Education and roll back the progress it has enabled by moving important programs to other departments with no education expertise.
Recently, for example, Trump tried to take advantage of the shutdown to illegally fire hundreds more workers from the Education Department, including at the Office for Special Education and Rehabilitative Services and the Office for Civil Rights. Education Secretary McMahon, herself one of Trump’s billionaire buddies, has made the preposterous claim that the shutdown proved the Education Department is unnecessary. This is the kind of unsubstantiated—I can hardly believe that she would consider this proof of any kind—but this is the kind of stuff that this Trump Administration always claims. And this regime makes these kinds of unsubstantiated claims on a regular basis to justify its ill-conceived and often illegal acts.
In reality, I had constituents reaching out to my office during the shutdown to share concerns about how furloughs at the Department of Education were impacting Hawaii’s public schools and the students they serve, including the students with disabilities. I heard from the mother of a four-year-old boy who attends a Title I school in Hawaii. She was concerned about how the mass firings of special education staff threaten the services her son relies on. Every public-school child who receives special education must have, as mentioned, an Individualized Education Program, or IEP, a plan to help meet the unique needs of each student. But without the necessary trained staff to support oversight of these programs, there is no one to help guide teachers or schools in developing these plans and ensuring that they are implemented or followed.
And as I mentioned, just yesterday, Secretary McMahon released a detailed plan for reorganizing the Department of Education by moving dozens of programs and services to other agencies that do not have the necessary staffing, funding, or expertise to oversee these programs.
And we can expect that she will try to move IDEA, too. I heard from a middle school teacher on Hawaii Island, who emphasized just how unrealistic Trump’s plan is to move oversight of IDEA to another agency outside of the Education Department. He rightly pointed out that other agencies “ha[ve] no expertise in the complex education law that is IDEA.” Education specialists, officers, and analysts with the office of special education programs are trained to best support IDEA. It’s not as though you can just move this program to Homeland Security or Human Services and expect them to be able to provide the kind of support that IDEA requires. So moving this program would mean a loss of expertise that will not be rebuilt quickly, leaving our most vulnerable students to pay the price.
As another example of moving programs out of the Department of Education as part of the dismantling of the Department, I could not resist this example. So, President Trump proposes to move the student loan portfolio to the Small Business Administration, which has neither the capacity nor the expertise needed to handle this massive program. The SBA is one of the smallest federal government agencies. How is it supposed to handle a Department of Education program with over 40 million borrowers and over $1.5 trillion in loans? It can’t, clearly. Neither Trump nor Secretary McMahon says, she does not see a federal role in education because they are just moving programs without figuring out how these programs are even going to be continued. In fact, that is not their intention. Their intention is to get rid of the U.S. Department of Education and they can’t do that because only Congress can do that. So what do they come up with? These alternative ways to dismantle the department.
So, shouldn’t supporting our public schools and our children’s education be a national priority? I mean, obviously President Trump and Secretary McMahon don’t think it is a national priority. It certainly is a national priority in other countries. Why? Because these other countries know, as I said earlier, that education is foundational, and that an educated populace is an engaged populace.
By gutting staff and funding that students rely on and attempting to eliminate the department altogether—a plan that will inevitably hurt our students—this regime’s actions make it abundantly clear that they don’t want an engaged populace. One can’t help but wonder why. Mr. President, this regime is not committed to public education—they’re not committed to public education—they don’t see a federal role for public education and that is the long and short of it. We can and must do better to support the education of 50 million plus children in our country. Thank you, Mr. President.
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