Exclusive: How Labor Secretary Is Helping Linda McMahon Dismantle the Department of Education
Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell /
Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer said she expects to see success from the Labor Department taking on the responsibilities of the Education Department.
The Department of Education and the Labor Department integrated the federal government’s education and workforce portfolio. The change positioned the Labor Department as the headquarters for all federal workforce programs and executed the two agencies’ joint workforce development agreement.
The Education Department also transferred the office of elementary and secondary education, as well as the postsecondary education office, to the Labor Department.
“We’re just deploying those dollars because we see what the market demands are,” Chavez-DeRemer told The Daily Signal. “This is going to be successful because I think the states are gonna appreciate that they have the access to those dollars closest to the ground.”
“I will look to Congress to say here are the metrics, here’s what’s been proven, and if you wanna codify that … ” she said, “because I think the president’s been clear we’re failing our education system through the federal Department of Education, and we wanna get that to the state education departments in order to deploy those dollars to that future workforce.”
Chavez-DeRemer said she is able to use her connections from her time in Congress in her position at Labor.
“I worked really hard while I served my time in Congress,” she said. “I was on the Education and Workforce Committee, Transportation and Infrastructure, Ag Committee. That’s why all of this matters. So, certainly, I built those relationships. Now, as the secretary of labor, it’s my job to give them technical assistance when they’re drafting bills and legislation.”
She said it’s helpful that she maintains relationships with her former colleagues in Congress.
“It’s up to them to do the legislative side of that, but the relationship building doesn’t stop,” Chavez-DeRemer said. “I think that that really comes from the leadership of this president, where he says, ‘Listen, work with your congressman. Understand that work with your respective states.’ And it’s helpful that I was there before in order to build those relationships.”
Secretary of Education Linda McMahon previously told The Daily Signal she is talking to “dozens” of Congress members about codifying her plan to move certain Education Department functions to other agencies.
Chavez-DeRemer is working with McMahon by taking on some Department of Education employees and grant dollars, she said.
“We’re not forgetting about the perspective workforce and the education we’re addressing, that education is our future workforce,” the labor secretary said.
“It’s a great coalition between Department of Education and the Department of Labor,” she said. “And I don’t think it should be a surprise to anybody that recognizing that they are our future workforce, and they deserve those dollars in their hands.”