Training Secretary Linda McMahon interrupted a press convention by Home Democrats outdoors the Division of Training to offer an impromptu assertion after they met in a closed-door assembly earlier Wednesday.
With a few minute’s discover, the secretary’s staff informed some attendees that McMahon could be making a press release.
Rep. Melanie Stansbury, D-N.M., was talking on the podium because the secretary appeared on the press convention.
“We’re terribly grateful that the secretary gave us the house to have these conversations, however with all due respect, madam, I feel my largest concern is that the states won’t be able to guard the packages and providers that you simply wish to devolve with them,” she mentioned earlier than ceding the microphone, noting that the temper throughout the assembly was “collegial.”
Then, the secretary stepped to the rostrum in entrance of the group of Democratic lawmakers, who had met together with her in her workplace for about an hour.
“I simply need to specific my gratitude to all of those of us who got here right now so we are able to have an open dialogue about what I imagine is without doubt one of the most essential issues that we are able to have a dialogue on or motion on in our nation, and that’s the training of our younger individuals,” McMahon mentioned upon taking the rostrum.
“This isn’t a partisan concern. That is concerning the kids of America and its subsequent technology after that, and if we need to have our leaders and if we need to have that subsequent group of engineers and medical doctors and legal professionals and plumbers and electricians and HV/AC operators, then we have to give attention to how they will greatest have their training,” she added.
Training Secretary Linda McMahon throughout a press convention outdoors of the Division of Training in Washington, D.C., April 2, 2025.
Pool by way of ABC Information
“And I imagine, and I do know the president believes as nicely, the perfect training is that that’s closest to the kid the place lecturers and fogeys, native superintendents, working collectively and native college boards to develop the curriculum for these college students is one of the simplest ways that it could occur,” she mentioned.
Rep. Mark Takano, D-Calif., who spearheaded the trouble to fulfill with McMahon, and a number of other reporters peppered the secretary with questions.
“When are you going to close down the division?” Takano requested.
“We had our dialogue,” McMahon replied.
She declined to reply any additional questions earlier than exiting the presser.
Takano and a coalition of lawmakers had requested the assembly after the secretary was sworn into workplace final month.
“She got here down right here to upstage the information press availability, attempting to offer the impression that she’s attempting a distinct method — that she’s truly assembly with members of Congress,” Takano informed ABC Information after the occasion.
Congressman Mark Takano with home democrats speaks at a press convention outdoors of the Division of Training in Washington, D.C., April 2, 2025.
Pool by way of ABC Information
Later Wednesday, McMahon posted on X concerning the assembly.
“This morning, I hosted a gathering with Home Democrats to listen to their issues,” she mentioned. “Our collective aim must be to assist college students, not the damaged paperwork.”
The assembly comes after weeks of confusion in Washington because the Division of Training slashed practically half its workforce and lawmakers have been demanding solutions from the Trump administration.
Reps. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., Veronica Escobar, D-Texas, Frederica Wilson, D-Fla., Don Beyer, D-Va., and Greg Casar, D-Texas, additionally attended the assembly..
Chaos ensued outdoors the company the final time Democrats tried to fulfill with division officers as Takano and round two dozen lawmakers had been rejected entry contained in the constructing.
This time they met with McMahon amid the administration’s try to dismantle and spearhead the historic overhaul of the division as directed by President Donald Trump.
The members mentioned McMahon took the suitable step in assembly with them and that she assured them she would work with Congress to maneuver statutory features to different companies and comply with federal regulation. Nevertheless, Wilson mentioned McMahon indicated she is following the president’s directive in transferring the coed mortgage portfolio for greater than 40 million individuals to the Small Enterprise Administration.
McMahon additionally informed the Democratic lawmakers within the assembly that there shall be further workforce cuts on the division, Takano mentioned.
In the meantime, the assembly appeared to depart many with unanswered questions, and after McMahon left the rostrum, Stanbury mentioned the secretary has no plans that she shared with them.
Casar, the Congressional Progressive Caucus chairman, mentioned he grew pissed off and much more alarmed throughout the assembly as a result of he steered McMahon’s mission will intestine public faculties.
“What she tried to say, within the nicest of phrases, is that she needs to do away with the guardrails and protections for all of our youngsters and as a substitute say, No, we are able to have it arrange in order that states may give cash to the personal faculties that we like and take away cash from the general public faculties that we might not like,” Casar mentioned.
Wilson, a senior member of the Home Training and the Workforce Committee, passionately defended public training.
“For the Division of Training to be dismantled, it’ll convey a shock to this nation,” mentioned Wilson, a former principal and lifelong educator. “Faculties are the bedrock of this nation. When faculties are working, our nation is, too.”