McMahon Testifies on Trump’s FY 2027 Budget Request, OBBBA Implementation, and 'Dismantling' ED
By Maria Carrasco, NASFAA Staff Reporter
Education Secretary Linda McMahon fielded questions before the House Education & Workforce Committee on Thursday, covering a broad range of education issues, including the Trump administration’s fiscal year (FY) 2027 budget request, the implementation of several provisions in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), the “dismantling” of the Department of Education (ED), and much more.
The hearing began with opening remarks by Rep. Tim Walberg (R-Mich.), chair of the House Education & Workforce Committee, who praised McMahon for her work at ED, particularly with implementing the Working Families Tax Cuts Act, another name used to refer to OBBBA, and improvements made to the FAFSA form.
“The Working Families Tax Cuts will lower college costs and debt burdens for students and families, hold schools accountable so they deliver programs that set students up for future success, and provide students and workers with new pathways to successful careers,” Walberg said in his opening remarks.
McMahon's opening remarks also touched on the implementation of OBBBA, along with the administration’s efforts to crack down on financial aid fraud, bring borrowers back into student loan repayment, and bring education “authority back to the states.”
“We're also hard at work implementing the Working Families Tax Cuts Act, which simplifies federal student loan repayment, launches a new workforce held program, and will make post-secondary education more affordable,” McMahon said in her opening remarks. “And today, we're putting forward a request that accelerates these reforms.”
However, Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Va.), ranking member of the House Education & Workforce Committee, criticized McMahon and the Trump administration’s efforts to “dismantle” ED, stressing that Congress must know whether ED’s staffing cuts, interagency agreements, and enforcement changes comply with the department’s legal obligations.
“The administration is not simply proposing moving a few people to a different building in Washington, D.C.,” Scott said in his opening remarks. “No, these actions represent the administration’s abdication of the federal government’s responsibility to ensure that all students, regardless of their race, religion, disability, income, or zip code, have access to a quality public education.”
The hearing covered a variety of K-12 and higher education topics. When the committee raised questions on the Trump administration’s FY 2027 budget request, both Democratic and Republican lawmakers expressed concerns over the administration’s request to eliminate funding for the federal TRIO programs.
McMahon reiterated a sentiment she previously made in a Senate appropriations hearing in April that the TRIO programs have not “met their own goals” and noted that ED is going to invest $2.1 million in researching the effectiveness of TRIO programs.
As a reminder, the Trump administration’s budget request for FY 2026 also sought to eliminate funding for TRIO programs, but Congress ultimately passed legislation to fund those programs at FY 2025 levels.
During the hearing, members also questioned the Trump administration’s real-time fraud prevention measures, which Federal Student Aid (FSA) announced in April.
Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) asked McMahon to explain the steps ED was taking to prevent fraud in student financial aid. McMahon noted that with new technology in the FAFSA, ED was able to identify red flags of potentially fraudulent applicants, including bots from outside the country. She noted that requesting flagged applicants to submit a photo ID in the FAFSA process has also been helpful in reducing the amount of fraud.
The issue of fraud and wasteful government spending was also brought up by Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.), who asked McMahon to discuss ED’s work to ensure greater accountability in the use of taxpayer money. McMahon cited the rollout of the 2026-27 FAFSA form, which now takes 35 minutes to complete for most applicants.
A big part of the hearing was also focused on the implementation of OBBBA, which will make several sweeping changes to the student aid programs, including the creation of a new Workforce Pell Grant program, along with new loan limits for graduate, professional, and parent borrowing.
Many lawmakers asked McMahon about the department’s work in implementing the new Workforce Pell Grant program, including Rep. Rick Allen (R-Ga.). McMahon noted that the Trump administration requested $10.5 billion for the Pell Grant program, which will include Workforce Pell when it launches on July 1, and noted that this request addresses the projected funding shortfall for the program.
“I've been incredibly heartened as I have gone across the country to look at the relationships between community colleges and high schools and what they're doing to have dual credentials to put people into the workforce,” McMahon said. “One of the things that we did in the budget was fully fund Pell so that will allow for the faster implementation of the Workforce Pell program.”
While there was broad support from both parties for the Workforce Pell Grant program, some lawmakers expressed concerns over ED’s new loan limits under OBBBA, which are set to take effect on July 1. Specifically, Rep. Joe Courtney (D-Conn.) argued that these new loan limits would especially hurt nursing students, noting that many students would be pushed into the private loan market.
McMahon shared information that 95% of students that are in nursing programs do not exceed these new loan caps, and 78% of nursing students that are moving to graduate programs do not exceed these new loan caps.
“We were very carefully looking at the cost of these programs across the country,” McMahon said. “There are outliers. There are programs that cost more … but many universities around the country don't come close to charging these amounts. … Our goal is to bring down the cost of higher education.”
Rep. Lisa McClaine (R-Mich.) asked McMahon if ED could explore either expanding or lifting the new loan limits for graduate nursing programs, due to nursing shortages across the country. McMahon said the final rule is “closed,” and argued that the country is mostly meeting its graduate-level nursing needs.
Another focus of the hearing was on the Trump administration’s efforts to “dismantle” ED. Rep. Suzanne Bonamici (D-Ore.) noted that so far, ED has entered 10 interagency agreements as part of a larger effort to “dismantle” the department, and asked McMahon what authority ED has to make these agreements. McMahon said that ED does have this authority under the Economy Act of 1933.
Additionally, Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.) noted that while the Trump administration is working to dismantle ED, it is now hiring more staff at the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) – where previously ED laid off half of the office’s staff. McMahon confirmed that ED is rehiring OCR attorneys, and ED has addressed 4,000 cases.
Rep. Alma Adams (D-N.C.) also noted that currently ED has a large backlog of Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) buyback and income-driven repayment (IDR) applications. Adams raised concerns over how the department is working to tackle these backlogs.
During his closing remarks. Scott stressed that Congress has never authorized the “dismantling” of ED.
“But behind every one of these decisions are real people, like a borrower trying to navigate repayment, or a parent filing a civil rights complaint, or a student with disabilities fighting for services they were agreed to that they're entitled to by law,” Scott said. “The American people deserve accountability, transparency and a government that fulfills its legal obligations, not experiments carried out at students' expense.”
However, Walberg concluded the hearing by thanking McMahon for testifying, and noted that he believes ED should be abolished.
“I don't think [ED’s] proved itself to function well for the $3 trillion spent since 1980 when it was put in place,” Walberg said. “We're going backwards. Madam Secretary, I appreciate the fact that you are finding creative ways, I believe, totally legal ways, to run your department… We want to see quality education. We want to see students learn. We want to see transparency that's out there.”
Publication Date: 5/15/2026
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