Washington, DC: U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, on Tuesday joined a bipartisan group of senators in voting to advance legislation that would block the Department of Education from transferring several of its core offices to other federal agencies.
Murkowski joined Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., and Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, all members of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, in advancing S. 5046. The bill would prohibit certain Interagency Agreements issued by the Department that would move critical offices and programs to agencies that lawmakers say lack the staff and expertise to run them. Sens. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., and Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., who cosponsored the legislation, also voted to advance it.
The HELP Committee favorably reported the bill by a vote of 13 to 9.
Specifically, the legislation would prevent the Department from transferring to any other federal department the Offices of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, Postsecondary Education, Elementary and Secondary Education, and Indian Education, or any programs implemented by those offices.
In remarks during the markup, Murkowski said the issue comes down to children and the day-to-day programs families rely on.
She thanked her colleagues for working to address what she described as real concerns about movements between agencies and the impact on kids, saying Congress cannot lose sight of the fact that at the end of the day, it is talking about children.
Murkowski said she is thinking about students with disabilities, students in elementary schools, and Native students and making sure that focus is not lost.
Murkowski said she had spoken with Secretary McMahon, who has advocated for keeping the reorganization on track and has asked for more time to demonstrate a proof of concept for greater collaboration between agencies.
“I do listen to that,” Murkowski said. “But then I think about these kids in school. And when you’re in school, when you’re in the program that you rely on from day to day, your families rely on that. You’re not really interested in knowing whether or not there’s greater collaboration between agency folks because you’ve moved from one building to another.”
Murkowski said her position is to allow programs that Congress has directed to be situated within the Education Department to continue where they are. She said the bill is not a blanket objection to every transfer the department has proposed.
“We’re looking critically at the programs. We’re looking specifically to the intent,” she said.
She pointed to concerns among Alaska Natives, noting that there was no Tribal consultation before any transfer was allowed.
“These are issues that have real-time impact on our children right now,” she said.
Full text of S. 5046 and video of Senator Murkowski’s remarks are available through the committee. The legislation now heads to the full Senate for consideration.