WASHINGTON – Earlier this week, U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA), chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, joined The Brian Kilmeade Show on Fox News Radio to discuss President Trump and congressional Republicans’ efforts to return education authority to states and local communities who are best suited to help their students succeed in the classroom. Cassidy announced last week that he is working with the Trump administration to codify the President’s reforms in law.
Listen to the full interview here.
On how the Department of Education has failed students and families:
“Well, first we can acknowledge that we started off in 1979 when it was nationalized. I think we were like in the top five internationally in terms of the performance of our kids. And now we're like, you know, way below that. So, there has been a decline over the period of time in which we have nationalized the regulation of education. Now it's not overnight. But as a rule, I would ask who cares more about a child's education? The parent, particularly the mom, or some D.C. bureaucrat? We can expect improvement.”
On misconceptions that President Trump’s efforts will cut federal funding that goes towards educating children:
“The first thing you have to do is relieve anxiety. Secretary McMahon made clear when she was in her confirmation hearings, this is not about decreasing federal funding. It's about returning control to the parents and the local school district. Who has the child's interest more at heart, the mom, the dad, the local school board or Washington D.C. bureaucrat? This is about giving control to mom and giving control to dad.”
On misconceptions that these efforts will affect special education funding:
“She made it clear that funding will not be decreased for the special education programs. It will be local school boards, but there will still be accountability required by the federal government. The federal taxpayer is not going to want his or her tax dollars going someplace and being used to do something which is inappropriate. So, there will still be accountability measures. We can do it a lot better than what we’re doing now.”
On unions’ attempts to sabotage President Trump’s vision to improve the education system:
“So, way back when Jimmy Carter set this up, he put the stakeholders, the vested interest, in public education, who are more about their vested interest than they are about the child. He gave them an inordinate amount of influence over the Department of Education. And you saw this during the COVID lockdown, when clearly it was safe for people to go back to the classroom, and teachers’ unions weighed in to keep kids locked out. Now this should be more about the child, not about a D.C. bureaucrat. We need to put the parent centerpiece into the education of their child.”
On how different federal education authorities could be transferred to other departments:
“So right now, the President has moved some of these student loans into the Small Business Administration, and they do a lot of loans. They've got a lot of expertise. I will point out that the Department of Education under Biden covered itself with shame in terms of how they manage that program, costing the federal taxpayer hundreds of billions of dollars, and frankly, the kids who had to pay it back too. So, we could do this a lot better. And I think a new approach is called for.”
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