| Speaker | Time | Text |
|---|---|---|
| With Elon about that, but as I said, I think it is a particular advantage to have a world-class technology CEO whose level of sophistication, whether it is from Tesla automobiles or SpaceX rocket ships, that that is not the kind of expertise that typically is available in government, and I think we're fortunate to have it. | ||
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unidentified
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Thank you. | |
| Thank you, sir. | ||
| The House will be back at about 4 p.m. Eastern to vote on whether to permanently classify fentanyl-related substances as Schedule I drugs that have the strongest controls and penalties. | ||
| And tomorrow, members will vote on a measure to block bans of oil and natural gas fracking. | ||
| Watch live coverage of the House when members return here on C-SPAN. | ||
| Democracy. | ||
| It isn't just an idea. | ||
| It's a process. | ||
| A process shaped by leaders elected to the highest offices and entrusted to a select few with guarding its basic principles. | ||
| It's where debates unfold, decisions are made, and the nation's course is charted. | ||
| Democracy in real time. | ||
| This is your government at work. | ||
| This is C-SPAN, giving you your democracy unfiltered. | ||
| We are back this morning with Matt Barnum, who is the K-12 education reporter at the Wall Street Journal, here to talk about this headline from Matt Barnum, Trump Advisors Way Plan to Dismantle Education Department. | ||
| Matt Barnum, tell us about your reporting. | ||
| What did you learn? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yeah, what my colleagues and I reported earlier this week is that Trump administration officials are weighing executive orders aimed at dismantling the U.S. Department of Education. | |
| That's consistent with a campaign promise Trump has made to end the department. | ||
| We don't know when or even for sure if these orders will be issued or what exactly they will say. | ||
| This is still in flux, but we reported that they're considering an order that would shut down all functions of the agency that aren't explicitly written into statute. | ||
|
unidentified
|
And we reported they're considering an order to come up with a legislative proposal to abolish the department. | |
| Why is it that they would have to come up with a legislative proposal? | ||
| And why is it that they can only eliminate those parts that are not written in statute? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Because there's a lot that the department does and the department's existence itself that are in statute. | |
| So the department was established by Congress with the support of Jimmy Carter in 1979. | ||
| And there are things that the department does like Title I funding, which is funding for low-income students in K-12 schools or funding for students with disabilities that are in statute. | ||
| So you can't just snap your fingers through executive order, legal experts say, to get rid of the department or the things that it does. | ||
| What do we know about Congress taking up legislation that would abolish the Education Department? | ||
|
unidentified
|
So there has been legislation introduced by Republican members of Congress to do so, but it's a pretty steep hill to climb to make that a reality. | |
| Legal experts I've talked to say that you would need a 60-vote supermajority in the Senate to eliminate the department. | ||
| I'm not aware of any Democrats who have supported ending the department. | ||
| And some of the things that the department does are pretty popular, even in red areas and conservative-leaning areas. | ||
| And polls show, including our polling at the Wall Street Journal, that eliminating the department itself is not popular with voters. | ||
| That said. | ||
| Yeah, go ahead and finish your thought. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yeah, that said, voters are also pretty dissatisfied with public schools right now, according to polling. | |
| And we don't know how much political capital Trump might spend on this issue. | ||
| So I'm not, I don't want to make any firm predictions here. | ||
| What is popular with Americans with the Education Department and the functions that they do? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yeah, I mean, I would say generally, at least locally, funding for low-income students, funding for students with disabilities, if a community sees cuts coming out of their local school where you have to lay off a teacher, lay off an aide, that is going to get a lot of backlash. | |
| Student loans are popular with the constituents who receive them, though there's also some who are very skeptical of that. | ||
| I think what's less popular is a sense of federal meddling in local education decisions. | ||
| And it's also worth noting that, you know, some of these issues are very sensitive to how the polling question is wording. | ||
| So we don't necessarily know for sure exactly how voters feel. | ||
| How have the unions responded? | ||
|
unidentified
|
The unions are very skeptical of eliminating the Department of Education. | |
| And I think they're especially skeptical of eliminating the funding that comes with the Department of Education. | ||
| The interesting history here is that the National Education Association, the largest teachers union, pushed for the Department of Education to be created under Jimmy Carter. | ||
| But the other big teachers union, the American Federation of Teachers at the time, was against creating the Department of Education. | ||
| That said, by now, the associations of teachers and other people who work in the Department of Education or who work in schools are very skeptical of eliminating the department. | ||
| We want our viewers to join us in this conversation this morning about the Education Department here in Washington. | ||
| Here's how you can do that. | ||
| Republicans dial in at 202-748-8001. | ||
| Democrats 202-748-8000. | ||
| And Independents 202-748-8002. | ||
| You can send us a text at 202-748-8003. | ||
| Include your first name, city, and state. | ||
| You can post on X with the handle at C-SPANWJ or on facebook.com slash C-SPAN. | ||
| Matt Barnum, Elon Musk, tweeting out on February 3rd, Reagan campaigned on ending the federal Department of Education, which was created by Carter in 1979, but it was bigger when Reagan left office than when he started. | ||
| Not this time. | ||
| What role is Elon Musk playing in this? | ||
|
unidentified
|
What we reported is that the Education Department is among the agencies that Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, or DOE, is looking at as part of its efforts to overhaul the federal bureaucracy. | |
| We also reported that some of Musk's representatives were working out of the main education department building in Washington. | ||
| And obviously, Musk himself has been very enthusiastic on his social media platform about ending the department. | ||
| I want to show our viewers what the president had to say about this to reporters in the Olvo's office on Tuesday when he was asked about his plans for the Education Department. | ||
| Take a look. | ||
| Why nominate Linda McMahon to be the Education Department Secretary if you're going to get rid of the Education Department? | ||
| Because I told Linda, I hope you do a great job and put yourself out of a job. | ||
| I want her to put herself out of a job. | ||
| Education Department. | ||
| So we're ranked number 40 out of 40 schools, right? | ||
| We're ranked number one in cost per pupil. | ||
| So we spend more per pupil than any other country in the world. | ||
| And we're ranked at the bottom of the list. | ||
| We're ranked very badly. | ||
| And what I want to do is let the states run schools. | ||
| I believe strongly in school choice, but in addition to that, I want the states to run schools. | ||
| And I want Linda to put herself out of a job. | ||
| Matt Barnum? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yeah, there's a lot to unpack in those comments. | |
| One thing I would note is that I believe President Trump is right that the U.S. is a very high-spending country in terms of education. | ||
| We're also a very wealthy country. | ||
| But we're not ranked quite as low as he's saying. |