Rep. Summer Lee Condemns Republican Plan to Further Dismantle the Department of Education and Abandon America’s Students

Video (Dropbox)

WASHINGTON, D.C. - JULY 16, 2026 - Yesterday, Congresswoman Summer L. Lee (PA-12) a member of the House Committee on Education and Workforce, condemned a package of ten Republican bills designed to retroactively codify and expand the Trump Administration's ongoing dismantling of the Department of Education.

The legislation would scatter critical education programs, workers, and responsibilities across federal agencies that lack the experience, infrastructure, and central mission necessary to support America's students and public schools.

Republicans advanced all ten bills during a full committee markup on Wednesday, July 15, despite concerns that the package would weaken congressional oversight, waste taxpayer dollars rebuilding systems that already exist, destabilize programs that students and schools rely on, and make those programs easier to eliminate in the future.

During the markup, Rep. Lee said, "This isn't about efficiency or cutting waste or states' rights. It's about setting these programs up to fail. A fractured system where no federal agency is accountable to the mission of improving public education did not and will not work. They're going to make programs like Title I and TRIO so dysfunctional and ineffective that they'll be able to cut them without hurting their chances at re-election."

Rep. Lee highlighted the devastating consequences the dismantling of the Department of Education could have for students and families in Pennsylvania's 12th Congressional District. For example, more than $34 million in Title I funding helps keep schools in the district operational. The Boys & Girls Club of Western Pennsylvania receives support through the 21st Century Community Learning Centers program, while first-generation and low-income students at the University of Pittsburgh rely on TRIO programs to help them complete their degrees.

Congresswoman Lee voted against the legislation and urged her colleagues to reject efforts to strip students of federal protections, destabilize essential education programs, and abandon the federal government's responsibility to ensure every child has a quality education.

See Rep. Lee's full remarks below:

"The Department of Education was established to protect students' rights, remove barriers to learning, and ensure that every young person, no matter their zip code or background, has an opportunity to succeed. No wonder it's being gutted. The bills we're marking up today undercut the foundation of public education in this country. All in service of an authoritarian playbook that relies on an uneducated electorate, the erosion of public goods that don't serve corporate interests and attacking marginalized communities. 

"The Trump Administration has already begun dismantling the Department of Education by signing executive orders, firing workers, cancelling grants, withholding funding, and transferring programs to other agencies that have no experience supporting students or schools. Congress needs to hold the administration accountable for illegally dismantling a federal agency. It's why we have separation of powers. Instead, we're marking up bills that retroactively codify it. The House is the closest thing we have to representative federal government, and you are ceding its constitutional authority to an aspiring dictator. 

"This whole operation is already costing millions of dollars. That's money not going to students, schools, or "back to the states." Ed workers are being sent to new agencies without offices or internet access to rebuild grant management systems that already existed.

"Why would we send HBCUs to the Department of Labor? Student financial aid to the Treasury? No serious person believes these agencies are actually equipped to administer education programs.

"This isn't about efficiency or cutting waste or states' rights. It's about setting these programs up to fail. A fractured system where no federal agency is accountable to the mission of improving public education did not and will not work. They're going to make programs like Title I and TRIO so dysfunctional and ineffective that they'll be able to cut them without hurting their chances at re-election.

"But my district can't afford to lose these programs. Over $34 million in Title I funding keeps the schools in my district operational. Students have somewhere to go after school because the Boys & Girls Club of Western Pennsylvania gets funding from 21st Century Community Learning Centers. First-generation and low-income students at the University of Pittsburgh are able to graduate because of the support they get from TRIO.

"And if we fully erode the federal government's role in education, what happens to the children with disabilities in Florida who are pushed to use school vouchers where IDEA protections don't apply? Or the immigrant students in Tennessee fighting for their right to attend public schools. The non-Christian students in Texas classrooms displaying the Ten Commandments. Trans girls in Idaho who just want to play soccer with their classmates. Black children in Southern states growing up with fewer voting rights than their parents. All the college students across the country whose student loan payments just increased.

"I will not vote to take away the educational rights of young people in my district or any other.

"We have a duty to ensure the best education for all children. This bill and the other nine bills we're marking up today abandon that duty. I urge my colleagues to vote no. I yield back."

Congresswoman Summer Lee serves on the House Committee on Judiciary and the Committee on Education and Workforce. Since taking office in January 2023, she has delivered historic levels of federal investment totaling over $2.7 Billion brought back to Western PA, including over $580 million for infrastructure, over $110 million for affordable transit, over $500 million to keep clean energy manufacturing at home in Pennsylvania, and over $55 million on clean energy efforts in and around schools to help keep our kids and communities safe. These investments will help improve Western Pennsylvania's infrastructure and transit, ensure cleaner air and drinking water, lower housing costs, fund research institutions, fuel clean manufacturing, fund STEM innovation and entrepreneurship, boost workforce development, and create thousands of good paying union jobs.  Lee and her team have also delivered casework and constituent services to over 4,000 constituents with issues ranging from helping our seniors and disabled community access Medicare and social security to helping folks secure housing and helping families with immigration support and passports.