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Chair Walberg Delivers Remarks at Markup of "Less Bureaucracy, Better Education" Legislative Package

WASHINGTON, D.C., July 15, 2026
Today, Education and Workforce Committee Chairman Tim Walberg (R-MI) delivered the following statement, as prepared for delivery, at a markup of 10 bills codifying President Trump’s plan to return education to the states:

"Today we are considering 10 bills that mark the first step toward ending the Department of Education’s reign over our nation’s education system.
 
"Nearly 50 years ago, the Department of Education was created as a payoff for teachers union support of Jimmy Carter’s presidential campaign. Its creation was a politically motivated mistake, and today we begin the process of correcting that mistake.
 
"There can be no doubt that the Department of Education has failed. At the postsecondary level, 40 percent of students fail to graduate within six years. The students who do graduate are unprepared, with 85 percent of recent graduates saying they wish their college had better prepared them for the workforce The Department’s student loan portfolio stands at $1.7 trillion, with more than 9 million borrowers in default. At the K-12 level, fewer than one-third of eighth graders can read or do math at grade level.
 
"The status quo isn’t working, but it seems my colleagues across the aisle are unable to see that. By contrast, President Trump and Secretary McMahon have articulated a vision for an education system that empowers families, students, workers, and local communities.
 
"The 10 bills we are marking up today will advance that vision by reducing unnecessary bureaucracy and better connecting education and workforce training programs so high school and college graduates leave with the skills they need to succeed. President Trump and Secretary McMahon have pointed the way to an education system that is more responsive to state and local needs, and we are excited to take the first steps toward realizing their vision.
 
"You will undoubtedly hear much wailing and gnashing of teeth from my Democrat friends today. They will treat these bills as an unprecedented assault on education. That would be foolish for two reasons. One, we’ve done this before, and not that long ago. When the nation’s workforce law was last reauthorized, four programs were transferred from the Department of Education to HHS. As I said, we have done this before, and with great success.
 
"Two, many of the programs being transferred under these bills predate the Department of Education. Democrats will portray streamlining bureaucracy as abandoning students and the federal government’s responsibility to protect taxpayer funds. That is simply not what these bills do.
 
"In reality, today’s debate will feature competing visions of education. Do we believe in students, families, workers, and communities, or do we believe in entrenched special interests? Do we believe in the status quo that is failing our children, our educators, and our nation? Or do we believe in a new vision of education that puts students, families, and educators in the driver’s seat?
 
"Republicans believe in the latter vision, and today we begin our efforts to deliver on that vision for the American people."
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