Linda McMahon, the previous CEO of World Wrestling Leisure (WWE) and President Donald Trump’s choose to go the Division of Training, testified earlier than the Senate on Thursday, centering her opening remarks round creating “a greater future for each American learner.”
The Trump nominee, who was tapped in November, kicked off her affirmation course of throughout a listening to earlier than the Senate Well being, Training, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee on Thursday morning. Republican Sens. Tim Scott of South Carolina and Katie Britt of Alabama launched McMahon earlier than the listening to.
McMahon centered her remarks on enacting Trump’s imaginative and prescient with the concept that “training is the problem that determines our nationwide success and prepares American staff to win the long run,” in response to an excerpt of her opening remarks, shared first with Fox Information Digital.
“I want to thank President Trump for his confidence in me to guide a Division whose mission and authority have been a particular focus of his marketing campaign. He pledged to make American training one of the best on the planet, return training to the states the place it belongs, and free American college students from the training forms via faculty alternative,” McMahon mentioned in her opening remarks.
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Linda McMahon arrives for a gathering in Washington, D.C. (Valerie Plesch/Bloomberg)
McMahon is being boosted to go the division that Trump has advised he needs to dismantle throughout his time period, not too long ago saying that if McMahon is confirmed, he needs her to “put herself out of a job.”
Trump mentioned Wednesday simply hours forward of McMahon’s listening to that he needed to shut the Training Division “instantly.”
“It’s an enormous con job,” he mentioned. “They ranked the highest international locations on the planet. We’re ranked No. 40, however we’re ranked No. 1 in a single division: value per pupil. So, we spend extra per pupil than another nation on the planet, however we’re ranked No. 40.”
His feedback got here as Trump’s government company, the Division of Authorities Effectivity (DOGE) run by Elon Musk, continues its monetary audit of the federal authorities.
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McMahon beforehand served because the administrator of the Small Enterprise Administration throughout Trump’s first time period earlier than stepping down in 2019 to “return to the personal sector.”
“My expertise as a enterprise proprietor and chief of the Small Enterprise Administration, as a public servant within the state of Connecticut, and greater than a decade of service as a university trustee has taught me to place dad and mom, academics, and college students, not forms, first,” McMahon mentioned on Thursday.
“Excellent academics are uninterested in political ideology of their curriculum and pink tape on their desks. Because of this faculty alternative is a rising motion throughout the nation: it gives academics and fogeys a substitute for school rooms which can be micromanaged from Washington, D.C.”
President Donald Trump shakes palms with Linda McMahon after saying her resignation on March 29, 2019. (Joshua Roberts)
The Trump nominee additionally highlighted antisemitism in faculties and the problem of organic males competing in girls’s and women’ sports activities.
“If I’m confirmed, the division is not going to stand idly by whereas Jewish college students are attacked and discriminated in opposition to,” McMahon mentioned. “It’s going to cease forcing faculties to let boys and males into feminine sports activities and areas. And it’ll defend the rights of oldsters to direct the ethical training of their youngsters.”
In her opening remarks, McMahon famous that “many People at present are experiencing a system in decline” however that “the chance earlier than us these subsequent 4 years is momentous.”
Linda McMahon speaks on the Republican Nationwide Conference on July 18, 2024. (Mike Segar)
“It’s my nice honor to announce that Linda McMahon, former Administrator of the Small Enterprise Administration, might be the US Secretary of Training,” Trump mentioned in his nomination announcement in November.
Earlier than being tapped to go the Training Division, McMahon based WWE along with her husband in 1980, which has grown into a worldwide wrestling leisure community.
“As Secretary of Training, Linda will struggle tirelessly to increase ‘Selection’ to each State in America, and empower dad and mom to make one of the best Training choices for his or her households,” the press launch added. “Linda served for 2 years on the Connecticut Board of Training, the place she was one in every of fifteen members overseeing all Public Training within the State, together with its Technical Excessive College system.”
After McMahon’s affirmation listening to, the committee will schedule a vote on whether or not to advance her nomination to a full ground vote.
