Trump push to dismantle Education Department met with enthusiasm in House GOP

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Rep. Thomas Massie is suggesting that Republicans could dismantle the Department of Education (DOE) if the GOP wins control of both Congress and the White House in November.

"Would [former President Trump] follow through with it? Honestly, I think it depends on who controls Congress and who his Cabinet secretary is," the Kentucky Republican told Fox News Digital on Tuesday.

The Kentucky Republican made the comments the day after Trump’s interview on X with owner Elon Musk in which Trump suggested doing the same.

"What I’m going to do, one of the first acts – and this is where I need an Elon Musk; I need somebody that has a lot of strength and courage and smarts – I want to close up the Department of Education, move education back to the states," Trump said Monday night.

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Rep. Thomas Massie, who is leading the push to end the Education Department in the House, said he was "pleasantly surprised" to hear Donald Trump support such an effort. (Getty Images)

Massie introduced a bill late last year that would do just that, and it currently has more than 30 House GOP co-sponsors, including vocal Trump allies like Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., and Byron Donalds, R-Fla.

While he has not had conversations with Trump or his campaign about the bill, Massie said it’s an issue he’s discussed with the Trump-aligned Republican lawmakers "all the time."

It signals that the effort, long pushed by conservatives, could potentially materialize if Trump and Republicans take over the levers of power in Washington in November.

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The DOE was established under former President Carter in 1979 when he split it from the Health and Human Services Department. It’s charged with regulating federal student aid funds and ensuring equal access to education, among other responsibilities.

It faced conservative backlash almost instantly, with former President Reagan threatening to dissolve it, though he was ultimately unsuccessful. 

"Reagan promised that he would try to eliminate it, and he never did. And then [people] became comfortable with [the] Department of Education, and it started seeming like a radical notion just to do what Ronald Reagan said he would do, so I felt the need to reintroduce this bill," Massie said.

Betsy DeVos, Trump's former Education secretary, told the Detroit News she would return to the role if asked. (Yuri Gripas)

The Kentucky Republican, who has been at odds with Trump in the past, said he was "pleasantly surprised" to hear him discuss it on Monday.

He argued that the funding that goes toward managing the DOE and its 14,000 Washington, D.C., employees "could be distributed to the school systems instead of burning … on extra red tape."

Massie also said that other core facets of academic policy like student lunches and the Head Start program are run by the Department of Agriculture and HHS, respectively.

More than 160 Republicans voted for an amendment by Massie to dismantle the DOE in March 2023, though it ultimately failed.

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But despite its foundations in the Reagan era, the push to dismantle the DOE has been used as a political cudgel by Democrats after its inclusion in Project 2025, a Heritage Foundation-backed set of policies and recommendations for a new Republican administration.

Trump and his allies have distanced themselves from Project 2025, which Democrats have cast as a far-right and repressive vision for the country.

Massie similarly said he had no knowledge of Project 2025’s details, pointing out that he’s pushed to end the DOE before the initiative was formed.

Rep. Byron Donalds, a Trump ally, is a co-sponsor of Massie's bill. (REUTERS/Mike Segar)

"I would just say, regardless of any other initiatives, this stands on its own. Organizations like the Heritage Foundation [and FreedomWorks] have been for getting rid of the Department of Education … since they were created, and Reagan was for it," Massie said. "So, I don't think it's a radical notion. I think what's radical is having a federal school board. And I think education is better without it."

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Massie indicated he would support former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos – who has advocated for phasing out the department she ran – to head it again.

The Trump campaign did not comment directly on Massie's bill but told Fox News Digital when asked, "As President Trump has repeatedly stated on the campaign trail, he is committed to cutting the Department of Education and returning important decisions about education back to parents, teachers and educators at the state level. The DOE has been failing America’s students for too long, and it’s time for serious change."

When asked for comment, the DOE referred Fox News Digital to Vice President Harris' campaign, which did not immediately return a request for comment.