Happy New Year 2025

Tag: DOE

Trump Education nominee Linda McMahon says shutting down DOE would ‘require congressional action’

Former World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) CEO Linda McMahon, tapped by President Donald Trump to head the Department of Education, is facing questions Thursday morning about her views on the agency’s future amid Trump’s quest to shutter it “immediately.”

During the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee’s confirmation hearing, Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., first asked McMahon about whether she agrees the DOE would need Congressional approval to close it entirely.

“Certainly, President Trump understands that we’ll be working with Congress,” McMahon responded. “We’d like to do this right. We’d like to make sure that we are presenting a plan that I think our senators could get on board with, and our Congress could get on board with, that would have a better functioning Department of Education, but it certainly does require congressional action.”

INTO THE RING: TRUMP EDUCATION CHIEF PICK MCMAHON TO TESTIFY ON CUTTING ‘RED TAPE’ AMID DOGE SWEEPS

Trump hopes Linda McMahon will ‘put herself out of a job’ if confirmed to lead the Department of Education. (Getty Images)

Sen. Bernie Sanders, D-Vt., asked McMahon a similar question after a line of questioning about her support for Pell Grants.

“Let me just once again, get your feelings on this, that if there is a movement to abolish the Department of Education, it has to go through the United States Congress?” Sanders asked.

TRUMP EDUCATION DEPT LAUNCHES PROBE INTO ‘EXPLOSION OF ANTISEMITISM’ AT 5 UNIVERSITIES

President Donald Trump is seen in this March 2019 photo with McMahon, who worked in his first administration on the Small Business Administration. ( REUTERS/Joshua Roberts)

McMahon responded, “Yes, it is set up by the United States Congress, and we work with Congress. It clearly cannot be shut down without it.”

Sen. Susan Collins, a Republican, asked McMahon about Maine’s TRIO programs that help first-generation college students from families without higher education experience. Collins questioned how these programs could be maintained if the Department of Education were “abolish[ed]” or “substantially reorganized.”

FORMER TRUMP EDUCATION SECRETARY LAYS OUT ‘UNFINISHED BUSINESS’ FOR NEW ADMIN ON SCHOOL REFORMS

“These various things, especially the trio program, which we both agreed was just hit with a terrible blow just by regulatory action when some of the students who were applying, their applications were rejected simply because of spacing on a form. And that kind of regulatory control just cannot stand. That is just impossible.”

“If I am confirmed to be able to get in and assess programs, how they can have the best oversight possible, how we can really take the bureaucracy out of education,” she said.

McMahon, nominated to head the Education Department, is stepping into a role that Trump has suggested he is seeking to eliminate. Trump recently indicated that if McMahon is confirmed, he wants her to “put herself out of a job.”

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

President Trump vowed on the campaign trail to eliminate the Dept of Education and bring the power back to the states (Getty Images)

Ahead of McMahon’s confirmation hearing on Wednesday, Trump reiterated his intention to close the department, calling for it to be shut down “immediately.”

“It’s a big con job,” Trump said. “They ranked the top countries in the world. We’re ranked No. 40, but we’re ranked No. 1 in one department: cost per pupil. So, we spend more per pupil than any other country in the world, but we’re ranked No. 40.”

Jamie Joseph is a writer who covers politics. She leads Fox News Digital coverage of the Senate.

February 13, 2025
NY Dems call Trump’s plan to shut down the DOE “illegal” and “unconstitutional.”

While the nation anticipates an executive order from President Donald Trump to dismantle the Department of Education, New York Democrats sparked a debate about its legality. The White House says cutting wasteful government funding is “not a crime in a court of law.”

Sen. Kristen Gillibrand, D-N.Y., and Gov. Kathy Hochul, D-N.Y., held a press conference at a Manhattan public school this week, calling Trump’s plans for the Education Department “illegal” and “unconstitutional.” The White House said the Democrats are “gaslighting” Americans.

“Earlier this week, we learned that the Trump administration is drafting an executive order to shut down the Department of Education,” Gillibrand said on Sunday. “This would jeopardize thousands of New York jobs, and billions of dollars in federal funding for New York’s kids, teachers, families and schools. We’re here to show them that we are ready to fight for our kids, fight for our communities and fight for our schools.”

As Trump is expected to take steps this month to defund the Department of Education, Democrats began another week of Trump’s second term protesting the Department of Government Efficiency. The Trump administration dismissed the protests as an attempt “to recover from their embarrassing loss” in November.

MAXINE WATERS, HOUSE DEMS RIPPED FOR ‘UNHINGED’ CLASH WITH SECURITY GUARD AT EDUCATION DEPT

Gov. Kathy Hochul speaks about gun violence during the Clinton Global Initiative on Sept. 23, 2024, in New York City. (Alex Kent/Getty Images)

“The Democrats have no plan on how to recover from their embarrassing loss, and it shows. Instead of working to become a party that focuses on the will of the people, they are hell-bent on keeping their heads in the sand and gaslighting on the widely supported mission of DOGE. Slashing waste, fraud, and abuse, and becoming better stewards of the American taxpayer’s hard-earned dollars might be a crime to Democrats, but it’s not a crime in a court of law,” White House principal deputy press secretary, Harrison Fields told Fox News Digital in a statement.

DEMOCRATIC LAWMAKER SAYS KIDS WILL BE IN TEACHERLESS CLASSROOMS, WON’T HAVE LUNCH IF DOGE, TRUMP GET THEIR WAY

Gillibrand on Sunday reminded New Yorkers that dismantling the Department of Education would require congressional approval.

“What he’s doing is illegal. It’s unconstitutional. It’s unconstitutional and illegal. It’s unconstitutional because Congress is the only body that is allowed to decide how the taxpayer dollars that New Yorkers send to Washington is spent.”

Sen. Kristen Gillibrand and Gov. Kathy Hochul called Trump’s plans for the Education Department “illegal” and “unconstitutional.” (Getty/iStock)

Hochul warned New Yorkers that they will pick up the tab if Trump shuts down the Department of Education.

“The largest part of your local property tax bill is your school taxes,” Hochul said. “If that money evaporates from the federal government, where are they going to go? This is going to hit homeowners and businesses, and I want them to be aware of this consequence.”

Students board a school bus in Manhattan’s East Village in New York City. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)

Hochul said defunding the Department of Education could deny students Pell Grants, a federally funded program that helps low-income students pay for college, and New York City’s public school nutrition programs, which provide free breakfast, lunch and after-school meals for students. Hochul urged New York Republicans to speak up in Washington for New York’s public school students.

“This is an outrage,” Gillibrand added. “The Trump administration is stealing money from our kids, from our teachers and from our schools. These are New York tax dollars.”

House Democrats were blocked from entering the Department of Education building in Washington, D.C., Feb. 7, 2025. (Fox News)

The New York Democrats said shutting down the Department of Education could cost New York’s 2.6 million students almost $1 billion annually.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Hochul and Gillibrand join a growing coalition of Democrats speaking out against Trump’s education plans. Democrats protested outside the Department of Education in Washington, D.C., on Friday, demanding an audience with acting Education Secretary Denise Carter. Carter is keeping Linda McMahon’s seat warm during her Senate confirmation process.

Deirdre Heavey is a politics writer for Fox News Digital.

February 11, 2025
Energy experts blast failed billion-dollar DOE project as ‘financial boondoggle,’ ‘disaster’

A major solar power plant project that was granted over a billion dollars in federal loans is on the road to closure, with energy experts blasting the project as a “boondoggle” that harmed the environment.

In 2011, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) under former President Barack Obama issued $1.6 billion in loan guarantees to finance the Ivanpah Solar Power Facility, a green energy project that consists of three solar concentrating thermal power plants in California.

The facility was touted by then-Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz as an “example of how America is becoming a world leader in solar energy.” But after 10 years, the federally funded plant is now on track to close.

“Ivanpah is yet another failed green energy boondoggle, much like Solyndra,” Jason Isaac, CEO of the American Energy Institute, an American energy advocacy group, told Fox News Digital in a statement. “Despite receiving $1.6 billion in federal loan guarantees, it never lived up to its promises, producing less electricity than expected while still relying on natural gas to stay operational.”

ENERGY SEC. WRIGHT ISSUES DAY-1 ORDERS TARGETING OIL RESERVES, APPLIANCE RULES, ‘NUCLEAR RENAISSANCE’

Ivanpah Solar Power Facility (U.S. Department of Energy)

“Now, with its power contracts canceled, Ivanpah stands as a testament to the waste and inefficiency of government-subsidized energy schemes,” Isaac said.

Ivanpah consists of three individual units, two of which were contracted by Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) in 2009 and scheduled to run until 2039.

EXPERTS SAY FIRST WEEK OF ‘TRUMP EFFECT’ IS DERAILING GLOBAL CLIMATE MOVEMENT’S ‘HOUSE OF CARDS’

In January, PG&E announced plans to cancel its agreement with Ivanpah 14 years early, determining that “ending the agreements at this time will save customers money compared to the cost of keeping them through 2039” – ultimately putting Ivanpah on notice for closure.

“The Ivanpah plant was a financial boondoggle and environmental disaster,” Julia Dowell of the Sierra Club, an environmental activism group, said of the power plant.

The $1.6 billion loan to Ivanpah was delivered under former President Obama’s administration. (AP )

“Along with killing thousands of birds and tortoises, the project’s construction destroyed irreplaceable pristine desert habitat along with numerous rare plant species,” Dowell said. “While the Sierra Club strongly supports innovative clean energy solutions and recognizes the urgent need to transition away from fossil fuels, Ivanpah demonstrated that not all renewable technologies are created equal.”

This comes after another DOE-funded green energy project, Solyndra, went bankrupt in 2011 after receiving $535 million in federal loan guarantees from the Obama administration.

“Green projects have a long history of expensive taxpayer-subsidized disaster that is getting more so,” Steve Milloy, senior fellow at the Energy & Environmental Legal Institute and former Trump EPA transition team member, said in a statement to Fox.

Chris Wright, chief executive officer of Liberty Energy Inc., was recently confirmed to head the U.S. Department of Energy under the Trump administration. (Al Drago)

Milloy suggested that further green energy failures could come from projects funded by recent Democrat-backed legislation that aims to push the green energy agenda.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

“Soon we will be looking at failures of larger magnitude than Green New Deal spending. No green project relying on taxpayer subsidies has ever made any economic or environmental sense,” Milloy said. “It’s important that President Trump stop the taxpayer bleeding by ending what he accurately calls the Green New Scam.”

Aubrie Spady is a Writer for Fox News Digital.

February 9, 2025