Linda McMahon will be the next secretary of the Department of Education after passing a full Senate vote for her confirmation on Monday.
The Senate voted 51-45 to confirm President Trump’s nominee to lead a federal agency he has been vocal about wanting to shut down.
Though not as controversial as some of his other picks, McMahon — a former World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) executive who served as head of the Small Business Administration in Trump’s first term — did draw Democratic opposition over her general lack of education experience and her and Trump’s shared goal of eliminating the department.
“I rise in opposition to Ms. McMahon. I like her personally,” Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said during the earlier vote for her in the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, adding he admired the business she built but opposes the idea of getting rid of the department.
“Is it a perfect entity? No. Is it bureaucratic? Yes. Can we reform it? Yes. Should we abolish it? No,” Sanders said.
McMahon will have to catch up quickly, as the Department of Education has undergone multiple changes in the roughly six weeks since Trump took office.
Dozens of employees have been fired or placed on administrative leave, more than a billion dollars in government contracts have been severed, Title IX has been reset to its prior Trump-era form, multiple states are under investigation for their policies around transgender athletes and the federal government is at war against diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs, including at schools.
And all of that exists in the context of the president trying to 86 the Education Department.
“I told Linda, ‘Linda, I hope you do a great job and put yourself out of a job,’” Trump previously said.
McMahon has made it clear she agrees with Trump’s position of eliminating the department but understands that nixing it completely would require an act of Congress.
“President Trump believes that the bureaucracy in Washington should be abolished so that we can return education to the states, where it belongs,” McMahon wrote to Democratic senators. “I wholeheartedly support and agree with this mission.”
In her confirmation hearing, McMahon laid out a blueprint of how a shutdown would work, emphasizing any funding directed by Congress would still go to the appropriate programs, but those programs could be moved to a different federal agency.
“I also want to give you a chance to answer this, that you’re not and President Trump is not talking about cutting any funding for children. You’re not cutting funding for disabled children. You’re just talking about changing the way that the money gets to these students in schools,” Sen. Jon Husted (R-Ohio) asked McMahon.
“That is correct, senator,” she responded.
McMahon was able to overcome concerns regarding her small experience in education and a lawsuit that was brought against her in October, accusing her of knowing one of her WWE announcers was sexually abusing ring boys.
McMahon has denied the allegations, but they were brought up in her confirmation hearing.
“If confirmed, you will be responsible with overseeing the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights, charged with ensuring equal access to education through vigorous enforcement of civil rights laws,” Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) said during the hearing.
“I am so concerned about whether sexual assault survivors on campus can trust you to support them,” she added.
“They certainly can trust me to support them,” McMahon replied.
McMahon’s nomination was opposed by teachers’ unions and other groups worried about the fate of the department and her willingness to embrace school choice.
“We will hold McMahon to her testimony on the importance of public ed and of getting every dollar approved by Congress into classrooms so that public schools are safe and welcoming environments where students are engaged and can thrive,” said Randi Weingarten, head of the American Federation of Teachers.
