Press Releases

Washington, D.C. — The Litigation and Rapid Response Task Force led 192 House Democrats in filing an amicus brief challenging the Trump Administration’s efforts to close the Department of Education in the matter of the State of New York v. Linda McMahon. A case in which 20 states moved to sue the administration for its plans to place fifty percent of the Department’s workforce on administrative leave, effectively shuttering a congressionally authorized agency by way of executive fiat. 

By involving themselves in this legal battle, House Democrats sought to stand up for Congress’s power to ensure a quality education for all Americans—and in their filing, they argued that the Trump Administration cannot unilaterally create, dismantle, or reorganize the Education Department, nor can executive officials make solitary decisions regarding the agency’s organization and assignment of functions. The lawmakers also cited executive overreach, noting that efforts to strip support for the federal agency violate Congress’s power of the purse.

The brief was led by Task Force Co-Chairs Jamie Raskin and Joe Neguse, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, and Ranking Members of the Appropriations and Education and Workforce Committees, Representatives Rosa DeLauro and Robert C. “Bobby” Scott.

See what they had to say below:  

“Congress established the Department of Education to create a first-class education for every child in the U.S. If anyone is going to dismantle and defund the Department of Education, it must be Congress as the lawmaking branch. We oppose and reject any effort to thwart the laws passed by Congress, a lawless and especially egregious blunder when the education of future generations is at stake,” said Task Force Co-Chair and Ranking Member Jamie Raskin, House Committee on the Judiciary. “That’s why Democrats are going to court to defend the Constitution, protect our students and our schools, and halt this outrageous presidential power grab in its tracks.”

“President Trump isn’t laser focused on the cost-of-living crisis that he is actually making worse. He promised to fight for the working-class but instead put Elon Musk and billionaires in charge of the government. They are attacking public education to pay for tax cuts for billionaires. Musk illegally fired half of the Department of Education’s staff, the first move by the Trump Administration to illegally shutter the Department altogether,” said Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro, House Committee on Appropriations. “The Department of Education was created by an Act of Congress, and so closing it would require another Act of Congress. If my House Republican colleagues want to go there, then let them sign onto a bill to do that. Let Congress debate whether providing for our children’s education, and researching the tools and methods that lead to the best educational outcomes, constitutes waste. Why is the President not focused on helping families, but instead hurting them, cutting funding that ensures teachers in low-income classrooms, and that students have food to eat in school? The government needs to work for the middle-class, the working-class, and the vulnerable—not billionaires.”

“Abolishing a federal agency requires an Act of Congress. The Administration’s decisions to focus its attention on laying off staff rather than administering and monitoring federal education programs accomplishes nothing to improve student outcomes or deliver for working people. If the Administration’s goal is to root out waste, fraud, and abuse of federal funding and promote the most effective use of federal funds under the law to address challenges students and families face, we could work together to address those shared goals,” said Ranking Member Robert C. “Bobby” Scott, House Committee on Education and Workforce. “However, the sledgehammer approach of mass firings and illegal termination of grants and contracts intended to support evidence-based approaches to improving education for all students at all levels of education appear to primarily serve the interest of congressional Republicans and President Trump in claiming savings in the federal budget that they intend to use to pay for their tax breaks for billionaires and large corporations.”

“Donald Trump’s decision to gut the Department of Education is reckless, cruel and illegal. Congress created the Department of Education and only an act of Congress can eliminate it,” said Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries. “The Trump administration is breaking the law and House Democrats will continue working to stop this malignant scheme in Congress and in the Courts. I am grateful to Rep. Raskin, Rep. Scott, Rep. DeLauro, Assistant Leader Neguse and the Litigation Working Group and Rapid Response Task Force for leading House Democrats in our fight against this unlawful act designed to rip away high-quality public education from our most vulnerable children.”

“President Trump’s efforts to unilaterally dismantle the Department of Education are unlawful, and would slash support for ten of millions of students and teachers, including kids learning to read and write, high schoolers looking to get their college degrees, and educators in rural and low-income communities,” said Task Force Co-Chair and Assistant Democratic Leader Joe Neguse. 

The full brief is available HERE.

For more information on House Democrats efforts to protect everyday Americans from the unlawful actions of the Trump Administration, visit litigationandresponse.house.gov.