Rep. Crockett slams Trump order to dismantle the U.S. Dept. of Education, while Rep. Gill, top Texas Republicans applaud move
Texas' top three statewide leaders attended President Donald Trump's announcement at the White House Thursday where he signed an executive order to begin dismantling the U.S. Department of Education.
Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, and Attorney General Ken Paxton all applauded the president's order. In a statement to CBS News Texas, the governor's press secretary said, "Governor Abbott supports President Trump's efforts to decrease federal bureaucracy and return control of education back to the states, where it should belong."
In an interview with CBS News Texas Thursday afternoon before the president's announcement, U.S. Representative Jasmine Crockett, D-Dallas said, "This is devastating. They are trying to starve this agency and bring it to its knees one way or another. We know even prior to him signing off on this when they finally did nominate the wrestling CEO to become the secretary, she was tasked with trying to shut down the agency."
U.S. Representative Brandon Gill, R-Flower Mound, told CBS News Texas Thursday morning, "I think the education authority should be at the state level. I think it was a dubious constitutionality the Department of Education was created to begin with. As you know it was created not until 1979 under President Carter and since then, we have seen no improvement in educational attainment."
The president said Thursday that test scores have not gone up and for that reason and the authority over education should return to the states. Trump said he wants the federal government to become more efficient.
The Department of Education has already made steep cuts to employees and intends to shut down the Dallas regional office of the department's Civil Rights division.
The president can't shut down the agency by himself. Only members of Congress have the authority to do so. While the House would need a simple majority to abolish the department, the Senate has a higher threshold: 60 votes are needed, meaning seven Democrats would have to join all 53 Republicans.
The White House said the Pell grants, funding for low-income and disabled students, will continue under the Department of Education for now, but will likely be transferred to other federal departments.
Crockett said she doesn't believe Trump when he said programs will be shifted to other federal agencies and education funding will be sent to the states.
"I think it's a bunch of malarkey," said Crockett. "I don't see any refuge for those that are benefitting from these programs right now. It doesn't make really make sense. I don't think this is really a partisan thing. This is evil vs. good."
Gill said he agrees with the president's assessment of the U.S. Department of Education.
"It has not done its job," said Gill. "It's done an incredibly poor job and a lot of the funding that comes from the Department of Education comes with strings attached, comes with woke ideologies that are being shoved down parents' throats, students' throats, and the states' throats. I'm excited to see it end."
While Trump said he believes Democrats will support his executive order, Democrats are promising to fight the administration's efforts.
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