***WATCH: Senator Murray’s opening remarks and the forum live***
Washington, D.C. — Today—during a forum she is hosting on the Trump administration’s reckless dismantling of the Department of Education (ED)—U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), a senior member and former chair of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) and Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, highlighted the devastating consequences of these cuts for students, families, educators, and schools.
Senator Murray’s opening remarks, as delivered, are below:
“I want to thank all of our panelists for being here today. We really look forward to your participation in this and your insight…we really do appreciate all you coming and joining us.
“Trump has been perfectly clear about his vision for the Department of Education—he wants to tear the whole thing down. There’s no secret there. So, it should come as no surprise that, tragically, Trump, and Elon Musk, and Linda McMahon have been doing exactly that—tearing it down.
“These three billionaires have pushed out half the staff of the Department. They are ignoring bipartisan laws and cancelling hundreds of millions of dollars in funding for our kids and for our teachers. Trump is proposing a budget that would make absolutely devastating cuts, leaving the Department on life support and our students in the dust. And he is trying to illegally shutter entire agencies that are required by law, and critical to student success.
“In short, Trump is essentially bulldozing the Department of Education, regardless of who depends on it, regardless of who is still inside, and regardless of the very loud outcry from parents, and educators, and students about this. But we are not going to stop fighting—we are only going to get louder, because there is too much on the line for us to give up.
“So today, we’re holding this discussion because—despite the unprecedented assault Trump has led on the Department—Republicans in Congress have yet to hold a hearing to demand some accountability.
“Now, if Trump gets his way, when the Department of Education comes crashing down, the roof is not falling onhis head. Billionaires like Trump, and Musk, and McMahon, are going to be just fine. It is students—our students—of all ages, who are feeling the pain of this.
“It is parents with children who have special needs, who are losing support to get what the law requires their child to receive. It is working adults who are losing career training opportunities that could set them out on a better paying job—not to mention employers who will lose out on a stronger workforce. It is schools in our rural areas, and in low-income communities that will have to fire teachers or end important programs. It is college students who are less protected from sexual harassment on campus, discrimination, not to mention predatory, for-profit colleges.
“It doesn’t take a genius to figure out what is already beginning to happen because of these cuts. When you slash funding to train teachers, we have fewer teachers. Go figure!
“When you slash a billion dollars for mental health support for students, kids don’t get the help they need—and at a time when mental health remains a crisis. When you fire the people who hold predatory for-profit colleges accountable, and who help students get financial aid, students are the ones who end up paying that price, and they may be paying it for years to come—decades even. When you dismantle research that helps us understand what is working in education, we are stuck flying blind.
“Right now, we know too many students continue to struggle academically in reading and in math. But there is now less support for doing what works to help students improve or knowing how many kids are even falling behind. Because Trump sent the people who support that research packing and terminated or reduced important grants and contracts.
“And, when you slash the Office of Civil Rights, students go without justice, and discrimination goes unchallenged. Cutting OCR especially gives the lie to Trump’s empty rhetoric about fighting for women and fighting antisemitism. Trump fired nearly half of the people who protect students and their rights and shuttered more than half of our OCR offices. And let’s not forget, Trump wants to suck money away from public schools and shovel it at unaccountable private schools. That is just another way for him to take money away from our families and give it to billionaires. And if that weren’t blatant enough, he’s been trying to illegally block federal dollars to extort states and school districts that disagree with him. And he is trying to cancel grants at universities to extort them into doing what he wants. This president is not trying to ‘return education to the states,’ he is trying to take it over himself!
“He’s trying to tell our teachers what to teach and using federal dollars to extort people. That is incredibly alarming stuff. And let’s remember what the ultimate goal is here—and the Trump administration’s FY 26 preliminary budget makes it crystal clear—they want to cut federal funding for schools and students, to make room for their tax cuts for billionaires.
“But while Donald Trump is busy destroying the Department of Education and building a Department of Extortion out of the rubble, Republicans are busy either burying their heads in the sand or cheering the demolition. Instead of doing the one thing this moment calls for—oversight and exercise of Congress’s authority. Using our power here in Congress, to fight for our constituents, and fight for our kids—the future of our country.
“I want all of you to know, Democrats aren’t going to stand silently by. We are here today to put a bright and burning spotlight on what Trump and Musk are doing. Because, as we will hear, there is too much at stake for anyone to ignore.
“So again, I want to thank all of you who came here to testify today. We look forward to a good discussion with you.”
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