‘The Answer To My Question Is Zero’: Patty Murray Shows No Mercy To Linda McMohan In Senate Hearing

Added: 2026-05-06

[00:00:00]Now we have Senator Murray.

[00:00:02]Thank you very much and thank you Secretary McMahon. You know, I don't think the solution to helping kids who are falling behind is to destroy the Department of Education, but I know you and the president seem to think that that is a solution. I think that's kind of stunning because I hear from teachers and parents in my state "Hey, you know what I really need? Less funding." I just don't hear people saying that. I don't hear people saying I really wish the federal government would do less to help student borrowers.

[00:00:32]But that is what you are proposing in this budget, tearing down the Department of Education even more.

[00:00:38]Why? So we have more money to throw at the Pentagon, trillions of dollars, half a trillion dollars.

[00:00:43]I I just have to say as a former preschool teacher maybe I'm biased, but I think that giving all kids, every one of them, a brighter future is really more important than shoveling money at defense contractors, but that is what's being proposed. So let me just start with this.

[00:01:00]Look, I am really concerned you're not listening to parents of children with disabilities and their profound objections to moving IDEA and rehab rehabilitation act programs out of the Department of Education. I've gotten a petition from thousands of parents, educators, advocates who are concerned that that will really undermine 50 years of progress in making sure the rights of children and students with disabilities are met. So I wanted to ask you today, what is the status of moving programs from for children and students with disabilities out of the Department of Education?

[00:01:37]Uh currently we are still evaluating uh where those programs uh would best be located and we have we have not made that determination yet. Uh we are looking at the Department of Labor for some of its programs. We're also looking at uh HHS for a potential home for some of those programs.

[00:01:55]Uh I can assure you that the uh the intent of this administration is not to put these students at risk in any way whatsoever. I have met I've not received thousands of applications as you have, but I have met with parent groups all over the country who have children with disabilities. We have talked about what they need. And I have said to each of them, "Who is better positioned to know what your children need than you working with them and then working with your local school boards >> And that that is Madam Secretary That is exactly why these parents and advocates are spitting mad because what they want to make sure is that their child with disability has an education. And moving it out of the Department of Education is not only undermining that, but it's a direct message to them that their health is more important than their education.

[00:02:45]Their parents are taking care of their health. They know how important that is.

[00:02:48]But they want their kids to get a good education and that's why I am hearing from so many parents. So I am deeply concerned that your answer sounds like you're still moving the ahead. Just let's make it clear that will break it the law and it will make it a lot harder for these students with disabilities to get the education and the understanding that their country will stand behind them with that. Well, you know, I just have to object to your framing of this. This is First of all, it's not against the law. And secondly, these parents need to understand that regardless of which department these programs are located, they will still get the same treatment >> Department of Education which says your education is the priority? That's their concern. But let me let me move on because I have several other questions and my time's limited. Um let me ask you a little over a year ago you made the decision to eliminate more than half the staff in the Office of Civil Rights and close half of the regional field offices. Now you have testified repeatedly that students won't even notice your efforts to abolish the Department, but I I'd like to hear you tell that to the students and parents who have yet to hear anything about their case, let alone have it be fully investigated and resolved. Because you know, in President Trump's first year of his first term, OCR resolved about 60 sexual harassment cases and 15 sexual assault cases. Can you tell me how many of these cases were resolved in the first year of this term?

[00:04:17]Well, I can tell you what we're we're doing with our OCR program. We are definitely moving forward. We inherited >> No, I asked how many We inherited about 19,000 backlog of cases from the Biden administration.

[00:04:30]>> How many of those were resolved last year?

[00:04:31]>> what we have have done and I have hired into the Department of Education uh Kim Richey, who was the uh the I I have a quick question and I have more questions. So I want you to answer the question I asked is how many of those cases were resolved last year in the first year of this >> moving to resolve as many cases we can, but but we are bringing back many of those lawyers which were part of that riff. And uh there was a there was a time when we were not processing cases as quickly as we should.

[00:05:01]>> Well >> are now focused on doing that and moving forward with the expertise >> record, the answer to my question is zero. Uh we are moving forward to resolve those cases today. Okay, well as of this morning, 1% of all cases last year were resolved. 78% fewer cases were resolved than the year before. And and really we we have to understand that what that means is kids are being denied equal access to education they are entitled to under law are now also being denied the justice they serve and that is really wrong. So you said you were hiring people back. I want to see what those numbers are. I want to see what cases are being resolved because I think it's really our responsibility to make sure those kids get the education they've promised. I'd be I'd be anxious to share those with you because >> Well, right now it's zero.

[00:05:49]>> in place is to move forward. But okay, well >> And so and so we'll be happy to share that with you as >> Happy to hear that, but just telling this committee that it's going to happen someday to me is not making sure those kids get it >> Well, I've hired the person and brought them back who made all of those things work in the first Trump administration.

[00:06:06]Uh left office with 4,500 backload of cases, inherited again 19,000 from the Biden administration and has a full-on attack now to resolve those cases and we are moving forward to make sure they get the same treatment >> we we expect to see progress. So do I.

[00:06:21]Okay, I'm glad to hear that. Um also you have decided to move the Title I program and important parent and family engagement requirements to the Department of Labor. You've decided that agency, which by the way has no experience making sure families of K-12 students can meaningfully participate in their child's education to take over.

[00:06:40]Meanwhile, you are moving other parent and family engagement programming to HHS. So just for everyone to understand, now if you are a superintendent looking for resources to help get parents more involved in their kids' education, you have to contact at least three different federal agencies to get an answer. So how does that split help parents get involved in their kids' schools? How does that create efficiency?

[00:07:07]Well, what we want to do is to make sure that kids have um the same access that they they need.

[00:07:16]These parents you know, let let me just back up for 1 second and I'll just take a minute to do that. The implication is that we we we just pick up a program out of the Department, stick it in another department. That's not how it works. The people who are managing the function in the Department of Education are being detailed to the other departments so that the contacts that these parents have had, the numbers, the emails that they have to reach out to are the same.

[00:07:41]They're just located in a different agency. So this is not But it is clear right now you have to contact three different agencies and for the >> No, it is not clear. That is incorrect.

[00:07:50]>> No, it's it is correct and it's not efficient. It's not smart. Well, we have a disagreement >> will have to agree to disagree on that because you're incorrect.

[00:07:58]>> Okay, well my my time is up, but I I just think that students in our country absolutely are being hurt by the actions that we're seeing right now and the and the budget that is in front of us makes it even worse. We've got to make sure that we are training our teachers and providing our students access and this budget I really believe leaves kids behind. So we have a lot of work in our Appropriations Committee to make sure we meet the demands of families and I will work with this committee to make sure we do that. Thank you. And I just like to have one more response and that is we've been doing the same thing since 1980 since this department was developed. Our scores have gone down.

[00:08:37]Our kids haven't improved. We've had some good programs in place that we want to continue. We want to evaluate them.

[00:08:42]We want to make sure that those programs can continue and be enhanced. But I have to tell you, we have failed these generations of our children who cannot read and write. And it's just a tragedy >> you and I have a difference of opinion on how to make clear that we are working towards that goal and having worked on many budgets and many authorization programs to continue our work to do that, I don't think dismantling the Department of Education is the right goal. Thank you very much. I return my time.