The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee advanced the nomination of Linda McMahon to be Education secretary by a party-line vote of 12-11 on Thursday.
McMahon, who appears to be on a path to likely confirmation, served as head of the Small Business Administration in the first Trump administration and was CEO of the wrestling entertainment company WWE.
Ahead of the vote, HELP Chair Bill Cassidy, R-La., praised the nominee’s previous experience, saying it would prepare her for the job.
“If confirmed, Ms. McMahon has the tall task of reforming a department of Education that has lost its purpose,” Cassidy said. “For the last four years, the department focused on everything but student learning.”
McMahon’s confirmation hearing before the HELP panel last week drew protests, but Thursday’s vote to advance her nomination was straightforward, with largely civil disagreements about the future of the Education Department.
At last week’s hearing, McMahon was asked about the potential effects of President Donald Trump’s plan to shutter the department. The president has said that he’s told McMahon that if confirmed, she should “do a great job and put yourself out of a job.”
McMahon told the committee that any such proposal would require congressional approval and that she’d plan to spend money appropriated by Congress but would “take a look” at funds before they are spent. She also said the plan would not defund programs, including Pell Grants, but would “return education to the states.”
Committee Democrats, who questioned McMahon at the hearing about the risk of cuts to programs for students with disabilities, all voted against advancing her nomination Thursday.
Ranking member Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent who caucuses with Democrats, said that he respects McMahon personally but is alarmed by what he called a move towards authoritarianism and calls to dismantle the Education Department.
“Is it a perfect entity? No. Is it bureaucratic? Yes. Can we reform it? Yes. Should we abolish it? No,” Sanders said, adding that “it really doesn’t matter who the secretary of Education is, the secretary of Labor is, because those people will not be calling the shots.”
McMahon is a longtime Trump ally. Besides running the SBA during his first term, she was the co-chair of his transition team and has raised millions of dollars for his campaign as chair of the super PAC America First Action.
Daniela Altimari contributed to this report.
