A year and a half after President Trump signed the executive order that set the Education Department's unraveling in motion, the Senate's education committee pushed back.
On Thursday, the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee voted 13-9 to advance S. 5046, legislation that would block several of the interagency agreements U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon has used to shift Education Department functions to other federal agencies. Since May 2025, the department has signed 14 interagency agreements with six other federal agencies to transfer many K-12 and higher education responsibilities. The bill would keep oversight of K-12 programs, special education, and Native American education at the department rather than letting them move to agencies like the Department of Health and Human Services.
American Council for Education President Ted Mitchell, a former U.S. Undersecretary for Education, has previously called the attempts to dismantle the Education Department “political theater, not serious public policy,” and many education advocacy groups have decried the Trump administration’s actions as being a violation of separation of powers, suggesting yesterday’s move was long overdue.
“Congress created the Department of Education by law — and only Congress can eliminate it,” said Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash in her remarks before the committee. “This administration is, frankly, spitting in the face of Congress and the law with illegal interagency agreements that are no more than an out-and-out attempt to abolish the Department of Education.”
The vote wasn't a clean rebuke. Democrats pushed an amendment to also block the transfer of the Office for Civil Rights to the Department of Justice, but it was rejected by a 12-11 vote. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, defended letting DOJ take over civil-rights investigations, arguing OCR had failed to adequately address antisemitism on campuses.
Murray used the markup to press for financial transparency, securing language requiring McMahon to send Congress quarterly reports on how much the transition is costing. She noted the department has already spent $1 million moving just one office — career and technical education — to the Department of Labor, with another $9 million requested to staff the move. "If you're proud of this deal, show us the price tag," Murray said.
McMahon and the leaders of six receiving agencies sent their own letter to Congress the same day, urging lawmakers to back the agreements, which she said have produced “measurable results” and cut bureaucratic red tape rather than adding to it.
The bill now heads to the full Senate, but its path forward is uncertain. A competing House package, led by Education and Workforce Chairman Tim Walberg, R-Mich., would instead codify most of the administration's moves — and Trump himself is unlikely to sign anything that undercuts a signature policy goal.
