Several democratic lawmakers were denied entry into the U.S. Department of Education on Friday in an impressive display of restrictions placed on Congressional authorities in the first weeks of the new administration.
“I’m out of the way,” California president Maxine Waters told a man who blocked more than dozens of House Democrats through the doors of the department’s Washington office. The man who was not identified by name said he was a federal employee working in the department.
“Did Elon Musk hire you?” asked Vermont president Becca Ballint.
“This is rage,” exclaimed California president Mark Takano, who was preventing him and his colleagues from entering the building physically. “We are the supervisor’s responsibility,” he said amid a failed entry.
The clash, filmed on video by multiple members, was yet another episode that sparked a fierce battle over the administration’s efforts to restructure the federal bureaucracy.
“They are preventing members of Congress from entering the Department of Education! Can Elon enter, not people? Florida president Maxwell Frost wrote in the post.
However, it is unclear whether a federal employee violated the law by refusing to enter the country. Members of Congress have an oversight role for federal agencies, but their power is typically exercised through hearings and policy enforcement.
The Constitution also grants Congress the power to establish federal offices, but it is unclear whether individual members are allowed to access these buildings freely.
Lawmakers are the wealthiest person in the world and head of what Musk labeled as the government’s efficiency department, and the wider transformations ongoing within the federal government, Elon Musk, has been affected extraordinarily. He expressed his dissatisfaction.
The standoff follows President Trump’s campaign promise, which will eventually dismantle the Department of Education and eventually close it. It characterized it as an institution injecting extreme ideologies about race and gender into the country’s public schools.
“We’re going to go back to the state it belongs,” he said in one campaign speech. “They can individualize their education and do it with love for their children.”
Since taking office, many broader actions by Trump have directly influenced the Department of Education and its workforce.
Last month, employees across the education department took administrative leave. The department cited guidance from the Department of Personnel Management, which directed federal agencies to submit plans to reduce staff related to diversity, equity and inclusive efforts by the end of January 31st. I did.
The Democrats were wary of the actions and threats of more effort to overhaul the department, and sent a letter late Wednesday calling for a meeting with Deputy Education Secretary Dennis L. Carter. When their requests were not answered, they showed up at the department headquarters on Friday morning, but found themselves denied entry.
No official explanation was given for his refusal to enter, and lawmakers were more upset upon the arrival of armed federal officers. The education department did not respond to a request for comment on Saturday.
“We are not dangerous,” Frost wrote in a social media post. “We’re here to represent our people.”
Similar scenes unfolded throughout the week at other agencies where Democrats were locked out, including the Treasury office, the International Development Agency, and the Environmental Protection Agency.
