The Trump administration’s bid to dismantle the Education Department was rebuked on Thursday by the Senate education committee, which approved a bipartisan bill that would block the executive branch from gutting the agency.
The legislation faces a long road to becoming law. Competing legislation in the House would instead codify many of the administration’s actions, and President Trump is unlikely to sign into law a measure that directly undermines his policy agenda.
Still, the vote was the sharpest opposition lawmakers had registered over the administration’s attempt to eliminate the Education Department. Closing the agency would require an act of Congress, but the administration has embarked on a piecemeal approach to gut the agency by effectively subcontracting its functions to other departments.
Relying on so-called interagency agreements, which have generally been used to purchase supplies or lease space between federal agencies, the Trump administration has transferred tens of billions in government programs out of the Education Department.
The bill would “maintain the core components” of the department, said Senator Tim Kaine, Democrat of Virginia, who sponsored the legislation. Specifically, the bill would block moves that the administration has made to transfer services for disabled students to the Health and Human Services Department; programs for elementary, secondary and postsecondary students to the Labor Department; and programs for Native American students to the Interior Department.
Senators Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, both Republicans, voted with Democrats on the panel to send the measure to the Senate floor.
Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, the Republican chairman of the committee, said he opposed the administration’s move of special education services to the health department, but he ultimately voted against the bill, saying he did not want to block the administration from making changes.
Opponents of the measure pointed to lagging test scores for the nation’s students, saying the poor numbers showed the Education Department had failed in its mission.
“This bill is misguided and it clearly lacks the vision to address this failing education system that we have in this country,” said Senator Tommy Tuberville, Republican of Alabama. “It ain’t working.”
Savannah Newhouse, a spokeswoman for the Education Department, said lawmakers were committing “malpractice” by supporting the legislation.
“It is entirely premature to sabotage this effort before it has the chance to eliminate bureaucratic barriers and fully deliver the results that our students, families and educators deserve,” she said.
After the vote, several cabinet members involved in the changes to the department, including Education Secretary Linda McMahon, sent a letter to Republican and Democratic leaders in Congress defending the moves.
The letter claimed that $3 trillion had been spent on the Education Department since 1980 but that had resulted in low test scores, high student loan debt and excessive bureaucracy. It promised that the changes would streamline the agency’s processes and that students, parents and educators would face no disruptions.
Advocacy groups have argued that by moving the offices for special education and civil rights, the Trump administration was effectively weakening oversight after drastically reducing staffing in those areas.
Many of these groups have also warned that Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s views on autism make him unfit to oversee education programs for students with disabilities.
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