CNN
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Linda McMahon, a major Republican donor and former professional wrestling executive, was confirmed Monday to serve as President Donald Trump’s Secretary of Education.
Trump said he hopes to make the department the number one goal of his administration and that McMahon will spearhead the division’s cuts or exclusion and “get out of work.”
The Senate voted 51-45 to confirm her in the role. The 22nd candidate for the president has been confirmed by the Chamber of Commerce since taking office.
Senator John Tune praised McMahon just before the vote, saying, “I look forward to working with Linda McMahon to limit the bureaucracy, empowering state and local governments, and ensuring that talented teachers do their best and do what they love.”
McMahon – The board chair of the American First Policy Institute is a pro-Trump think tank formed in 2021 by McMahon, Larry Kudrow and other advisors to the first Trump administration, and served as administrator of a small business administration during Trump’s first term. She was appointed in 2017 and resigned in 2019 and became chairman of America First Action, the pro-trump super PAC.
McMahon could be tasked with overseeing the end of the department following Trump’s repeated calls to abolish the agency, but it’s difficult to remove the entire department as it would require Congressional actions to close it. The department provides federal funding to almost every public kindergarten school in the country and manages a $1.6 trillion federal student loan portfolio.
The sector has become a target of Elon Musk’s government efficiency, as reported by CNN, but previous moves to abandon the sector have not been able to get support at Capitol Hill.
According to an email sent to agent workers on Friday acquired by CNN, the Department of Education provided acquisitions of up to $25,000 to certain employees and accepted the offer until 11:59pm on Monday.
An email from the department’s chief executive said the offer was made prior to the initially reported offer that Politico had been reduced “very significantly and significantly.” Eligible employees must be continuously employed by the government for at least three years.
The reduction in personnel targets the education sector is seeking in this offer is not clear. A department spokesman confirmed the reliability of the email but did not answer further questions.
Sunlen Serfaty, Michael Williams, Kristen Holmes and Kaitlan Collins from CNN contributed to this report.
