US Education Secretary questioned on student loans, mental health : NPR

US Secretary of Education Linda McMahon did a complicated job this week. He has pledged lawmakers to close both the Trump administration’s new fiscal year, 2026 budget proposal and President Trump.

According to New budget overviewthe administration wants to cut funding in the education sector by 15%, but wants to preserve the two most important federal funding sources in K-12 schools. Title I, Ideas to support students with disabilities will be granted to the state for schools in low-income areas. Instead, they propose reducing other programs. triosupporting low-income and first-generation university students.

On Wednesday, McMahon testified before the House Education Committee and on Tuesday before the Senate Budget Subcommittee. Here are some moments that stood out:

• The definition of madness

During a Senate hearing Tuesday, Oklahoma Republican Sen. Mark Wayne Mullin asked McMahon, “What is the definition of madness?”

“I’ve done the same thing over and over and over and hope for a different outcome,” replied McMahon.

Marine’s points are based on a decrease in test scores. What the U.S. Department of Education has been doing over the years is, “It’s not working. What we’re doing isn’t working.”

The notion that US students have failed academically and the education sector is responsible is a major Republican debate in favour of robbing the department, and has appeared again and again at this week’s hearing with McMahon.

Critics of that debate note that the department does not run the country’s schools. You cannot tell your district or state What to teach and how to teach it.

In fact, at a hearing Tuesday, Alabama Republican Sen. Katie Brittt justified his legitimate emphasis on the state’s extraordinary academic advances in recent years. Documented by NPR. Another state, Louisiana, It has also been significantly improved.

• College may be in hooks for student loans

As for student loans, McMahon said universities need to “suck a little skin in the game.” She suggested that the federal government is not liable for all loans students have outstanding.

“The loans are not allowed or just gone away. They just shoulder to others,” she said.

Plans to force a university And universities that pay off some of their students are not included in the House Republican large settlement bill, where lawmakers are not included. Republicans also want to make it clear when certain university programs aren’t giving students a good return on investment.

“If you want to get a student loan, you have to get a degree in something that might actually be of use when you finish it,” said Rep. Randy Fein, a Florida Republican.

Such a shift will require major changes to the student loan system and federal monitoring of universities.

Democrats’ toughest questions about McMahon at Senate hearing Tuesday Department decision to stop paying Hire $1 billion in grants for school districts Mental Health Expertsincluding counselors and social workers.

Sen. Chris Murphy, a Connecticut Democrat, told McMahon:

McMahon doubled the department’s explanation on the funding freeze. Some of these programs were contaminated by what the administration considers as a toxic dei ideology.

She also said, “I think the state and the region are the best places where we need to focus on these specific programs.”

The administration uses this trust approach across its budget. For the program, if you don’t want to cancel completely, the budget asks you to strip the regulations and send money to the Chunk nation via block grants.

for example, Budget is folded Students who have experienced federal funding for local schools, homelessness, literacy instruction, and other unrelated programs will become one common money bundle to go to the state.

• Upward boundaries and the fate of other trio programs

The division’s 2026 budget will end clusters of known federal programs Collectively as a trioaims to help low-income and first-generation students access and succeed in the university. And McMahon heard bipartisan support for the trio and pleas to save the program.

At one point during the hearing Tuesday, Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins pointed out that she was wearing Maine trio pins at Lapel and three staff members passed the trio. Collins said he saw firsthand how college changed the lives of many vulnerable Americans that otherwise might have been out of reach.

When asked by Collins why the administration thinks the trio is not worth investing, McMahon replied that the Department of Education lacked the ability to audit the trio and confirmed that federal funds were being used properly.

Several senators expressed support for the trio during the hearing, and at one point, Jeanne Shaheen, a New Hampshire Democrat, told McMahon.

• Who should pay for a workforce program?

The administration’s proposed integration of workforce development programs was met with a range of responses, ranging from slight anxiety to hostility to hostility from lawmakers on both parties.

Rep. Bobby Scott, a Virginia Democrat, urged his secretary to place numbers on cuts beyond the budget.

McMahon did not answer questions yes or no, but continued to emphasize the need for workforce development without the federal government taking on costs.

Michigan Rep. Hailey Stevens is also a Democrat, and said of Michigan’s manufacturing equipment, “We’re competing on the world stage.” “We need these engineering jobs. We need these apprenticeship programs.”

In a later exchange with Republican representative Indiana Mark Mesmer, Secretary McMahon said the administration is considering expanding public-private partnerships for careers and technical education.

She cited the West Virginia program, a partnership between community college and automaker Toyota. Students there will train in car factories and take classes at university and develop an embedded workforce funded by employers, she said.