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House education chair backs Trump move to abolish federal agency

House education chair backs Trump move to abolish federal agency

EXCLUSIVE: The top lawmaker on the House Education and Workforce Committee is backing President Donald Trump as he readies to potentially abolish the federal Department of Education, but the lawmaker is skeptical Congress could offer support. “I support him in the fact that we need to abolish the Department of Education, return education to the states, especially for K-12, and gain control of the higher-ed institutions and make them work,” Chair Tim Walberg, R-Mich., said in an interview with Fox News Digital. “Whether we can abolish it or not is the question” He pointed out that the Senate’s threshold for most legislation, which is 60, means Republicans could likely be forced to seek Democrat votes if a bill to abolish the department came to Congress. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION CANCELS ANOTHER $350M IN ‘WOKE’ SPENDING FOR CONTRACTS, GRANTS “It takes votes. The president can do executive orders, but they’ll be limited in time and scope. The votes aren’t there, I would think, to totally abolish the department in the Senate, at the very least,” Walberg said. However, the Michigan Republican signaled that Congress could still look at what kind of changes they could make. “So what can we do to de-power, to reform, to replace in such a way that, for the time being, we’ll make the system work? I think that’s the question that we have,” he said. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION LAUNCHES ‘ENDDEI’ PORTAL FOR PARENTS, STUDENTS, TEACHERS TO REPORT DISCRIMINATION Trump is expected to sign an executive order to abolish the Department of Education, something that’s been pushed by conservative Republicans for years. It comes just after his new secretary of education, Linda McMahon, was confirmed by the Senate on Monday. The department was created in its modern-day form in 1980 after then-President Jimmy Carter separated it from what’s now the Department of Health and Human Services. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., signaled his openness to abolishing it in comments to reporters on Thursday. “The more we push control of education down to parents and local school boards and authorities, the better off we are,” Johnson said.

Top Dem governor issues order aiming to help fill ‘critical’ state jobs as DOGE cuts federal bureaucracy

Top Dem governor issues order aiming to help fill ‘critical’ state jobs as DOGE cuts federal bureaucracy

With DOGE scrutinizing the federal workforce for cuts, one potential 2028 Democrat hopeful issued an executive order aiming to fill hundreds of vacancies in his own state government while also focusing on private-sector openings. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro was joined by other dignitaries during a job fair at the state Farm Show complex in Harrisburg to sign the order calling for, among other things, federal bureaucrats to be considered for a plethora of job openings in Harrisburg’s civil service. “The commonwealth recognizes that a workforce of dedicated and talented public servants is the backbone of a responsive government that can ensure the efficient and effective delivery of services for Pennsylvanians,” Shapiro said in his order.  The executive order seeks to “capitalize on federal layoffs by accepting federal work experience as equivalent to state experience for the state’s top recruitment needs,” according to a separate statement from Shapiro. The statement added there will be an emphasis on veterans and military servicemembers also having direct access to recruiter-contacts, as well as publication of the 23 highest-priority, hardest-to-fill state jobs. “It is imperative that the commonwealth attract and retain qualified employees who are drawn to a career in public service to fill its existing vacancies,” the order reads, citing an estimated 103,700 Pennsylvanians employed by the feds in 2024. Pennsylvania Secretary of Administration Neil Weaver added in a statement that the federal workforce is “one of the most professional and qualified in the world, and we know that many federal jobs have similar duties to jobs performed by Commonwealth employees.” TOP BLUE STATE REPUBLICAN LAUNCHES COMPREHENSIVE DOGE EFFORT WITH A TWIST “This executive order will help individuals with federal work experience find relevant job opportunities, continue their public service careers, and put their skills to work for the people of Pennsylvania,” Weaver said. While Shapiro’s order aims to encourage qualified federal workers to relocate up I-83 to Harrisburg, a source familiar with his efforts noted that the governor remains committed to an all-encompassing strategy to attract top talent to Pennsylvania’s public and private sectors. SHAPIRO, STITT SAY SLASHING ENERGY DEVELOPMENT RED-TAPE AND BEATING CHINA IN ‘AI ARMS RACE’ ARE TOP PRIORITIES The day before he issued his order focused on state government jobs, Shapiro was in Pittsburgh meeting with private-sector leaders at the Allegheny Conference on Community Development, seeking to boost economic growth in western Pennsylvania. There, Shapiro spoke about his energy “lightning plan” to increase jobs while reducing costs, saying, “We haven’t done anything meaningful on energy generation since the [Ed] Rendell administration: It’s time for us to lead again.” Shapiro also held a phone call with tech billionaire Elon Musk in October. The governor said neither of them discussed politics but instead investment in Pennsylvania. In the past, a source familiar with the Shapiro administration’s work suggested he bore the mantle of increasing government efficiency before the Trump-Musk endeavor to cut federal government waste began, given his unofficial and oft-repeated slogan: “Get s–t done.” Conservatives, however, swiftly criticized Shapiro’s order, with the state House minority leader suggesting any vacant government jobs first be deemed necessary to begin with. “While President Trump is using his mandate to lead the federal government in an unprecedented effort to right-size itself in true responsibility to the taxpayers, finding ways to add to our bureaucracy here in Pennsylvania sends us in the wrong direction,” said state Rep. Jesse Topper, R-McConnellsburg. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP “When a job becomes vacant in Pennsylvania’s administrative apparatus, the question should first be asked if it is truly needed rather than how quickly it can be filled,” Topper continued, adding that the focus should be on “state-specific ways to get our fiscal house in order.” Meanwhile, a potential 2026 Shapiro opponent said the governor’s order will “make living in Pennsylvania worse.” “He’s already proposed an unsustainable, job-killing $51 billion budget, and yet that’s not enough for him,” said state Sen. Doug Mastriano, R-Gettysburg. “Now he wants to continue his spending spree with this grandstanding, desperately trying to draw attention to himself politically. Meanwhile, he doesn’t bat an eye as he destroys Pennsylvania’s economy and ruins the lives and livelihood of our families.” Mastriano notably launched an effort last week to establish Pennsylvania’s own version of the federal Department of Government Efficiency.

GOP senator reveals strategy to push Trump’s policies through Congress: ‘I believe in the agenda’

GOP senator reveals strategy to push Trump’s policies through Congress: ‘I believe in the agenda’

EXCLUSIVE: Republican Sen. Rick Scott says he’s on a mission to help push President Donald Trump’s agenda through Congress. “I put a lot of effort in, and I believe in Trump’s agenda,” the former Florida governor and two-term senator said in an exclusive national digital interview with Fox News. Scott spoke from the sidelines of a two-day policy summit held at a hotel blocks from the U.S. Capitol that was hosted by Rescuing the American Dream, a public policy group aligned with the conservative senator. A number of members of the Trump administration and of his political orbit, including Attorney General Pam Bondi [who served as Florida attorney general during Scott’s tenure as Sunshine State governor] were guests at the summit. POLL POSITION: WHERE TRUMP STANDS IN MINDS OF AMERICANS Scott noted that “a lot of my friends are working” in the second Trump administration. “I’ve got a lot of friends there.” The senator added that Susie Wiles, co-campaign manager of Trump’s 2024 campaign and the president’s White House chief of staff, “was my first campaign manager” when Scott won the 2010 Florida gubernatorial election. TOP CONSERVATIVE GROUP VOWS TO WORK WITH PRESIDENT DESPITE PAST CLASHES WITH TRUMP Scott, who hosts a weekly steering committee lunch for Senate Republicans, brought Wiles as the featured guest last week. This week, his guest was billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, who Trump tapped to steer his recently created Department of Government Efficiency, the controversial group best known by its acronym, DOGE. Scott, a self-made multimillionaire who’s the wealthiest member of the Senate, emphasized that “I’m going to do everything I can because I believe in the agenda.” He said he’s working with his Senate colleagues as well as friends in the House “to get the Trump agenda accomplished.” Scott’s recent efforts appear to be raising his image among fellow Senate Republicans. That image took a hit after the GOP failed to regain control of the chamber in the 2022 midterms, when Scott was leading the National Republican Senatorial Committee. He also frequently clashed with longtime GOP Senate leader Mitch McConnell and unsuccessfully challenged McConnell for leader. Scott also ran for Senate GOP leader last year in the race to succeed McConnell, who stepped down. But he says he has a strong working relationship with the lawmaker who won that race, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, the longtime Republican from South Dakota. SENATE MAJORITY LEADER SAYS THIS IS THE REASON HE’S WORKING SO WELL WITH TRUMP “I think John Thune is doing a great job,” Scott said. Thune, who spoke at the Scott-aligned policy summit, returned the compliment. “The House has a very narrow majority, and it makes it challenging to do pretty much anything, but Rick has a good relationship with a number of folks in the House,” Thune told the audience. Thune noted that Scott, who holds a weekly dinner with House GOP members and Trump administration officials, “meets with them [House Republicans] on a regular basis. So we’ve got good lines of communication.” Looking forward, Scott emphasized that in order to push the Trump agenda forward, “We’ve got to be very vocal. We’ve got to do op-eds. We’ve got to be on television. We’ve got to be on radio. We’ve got to be talking about why this is good for a normal person.” Trump has been moving at warp speed during his opening six and a half weeks back in the White House with a flurry of executive orders and actions. His moves, many of them controversial, not only fulfilled some of his major campaign trail promises but also allowed the returning president to flex his executive muscles, quickly put his stamp on the federal government, make major cuts to the federal workforce and also settle some long-standing grievances. Trump as of Thursday had signed 85 executive orders since his inauguration, according to a count from Fox News, which far surpasses the rate of any recent presidential predecessors during their first weeks in office. “It’s something the president has the opportunity to do, but that only lasts while he’s president,” Scott noted, as he pointed to the executive orders. He highlighted that “we’ve got to codify these things” and “this country should be run by Congress passing normal laws that help you as an American citizen, and that’s what we ought to do. I appreciate what the president’s doing, but we’ve got to codify these things.” Fox News’ Emma Woodhead contributed to this report.