Linda McMahon’s confirmation hearing to be President Trump’s Education secretary was interrupted several times so far by protesters in the audience, calling for protections for trans students and students with disabilities, among other interjections.
A person familiar with the situation said the interruptions were from those affiliated with the National Education Association, the largest teacher’s union in the country.
“The rudeness of people who are trying to squelch others as they’re trying to communicate in an incredibly public forum is just amazing, amazingly bad,” chairman of the hearing Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) said after one of the interruptions.
The first outburst came as McMahon started her opening statement and was regarding the Individual with Disabilities Education Act.
“Can you hear what Linda McMahon is cooking? It’s a world without IDEA!” the first protester said, according to an individual in the room.
McMahon said during the hearing she does not want programs like IDEA to lose funding but wants to see if the oversight would be better served in other areas of the federal government.
She wants to “get in and assess programs and how they can have the best oversight possible” and “how we can really take the bureaucracy out of education.”
McMahon later suggested IDEA could go back under the Health and Human Services Department.
The second and third protesters interrupted the hearing with calls to “protect trans youth” and keep billionaires out of education, likely referring to Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency getting access to databases within the Department of Education.
The Department of Education has already begun investigations into schools and athletic associations that allow transgender athletes to participate in sports that align with their gender identity and are calling for sports organizations to revoke records and rewards for transgender athletes who have won in women’s high school and college sports.
A fourth protester interrupted an exchange between Sen. Josh Hawley (R- Mo.) and McMahon, saying he was a teacher and was quickly removed by Capitol police.
“Linda McMahon, you’re fired” a fifth protester yelled shortly after.
