Bill to Abolish Department of Education Is Unlikely to Pass
Senator Mike Rounds (R-SD) introduced the Returning Education to Our States Act, a bill that would fulfill President-elect Trump’s campaign pledge to eliminate the Department of Education. Although abolishing the Department has become a popular talking point for many politicians, odds are against passage of the legislation, even when Republicans take control of Congress in January.
Abolishing the Department has long been a rallying cry for Republicans, and legislative proposals to do so are routinely introduced in Congress. Like most legislative proposals to abolish the Department that have been introduced previously, Senator Rounds’ bill would retain many of the agency’s most significant responsibilities and programs by transferring them to other agencies. For example, the bill would move the Title IV student aid programs to the Department of Treasury, and enforcement of civil rights statutes would shift to the Department of Justice. In other words, despite formal elimination of the Department, the bill would ensure that many of the agency’s functions and programs would continue.
Eliminating the Department, however, requires legislation, including 60 votes in the Senate to avoid filibuster rules. With 53 Senate Republicans, the GOP has just a slim 3-seat majority in the new Congress. And without clear support even among Republicans for abolishing the Department, it would take a significant change in rules to get this proposal through the 119th Congress.
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Jody Feder