Trump’s moves to break up Education Department generate new bipartisan resistance in Senate

President Donald Trump's attempts to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education have encountered new bipartisan opposition in the Senate. This week, moderate Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins joined Democrats, including Sen. Tim Kaine, to advance legislation reversing some of the Trump administration's efforts to break up the Education Department.

The Senate education committee voted 13-9 in favor of the bill, marking the first formal congressional effort to stop the administration's interagency agreements. The legislation would roll back four of these agreements, transferring K-12 and postsecondary education to the Labor Department, Indian education to the Interior Department, and special education oversight to Health and Human Services.

The move has drawn criticism from advocates, who argue that it undermines federal oversight and technical assistance. The legislation does not affect agreements moving career and technical education to Labor or increasing the Justice Department's role in civil rights enforcement in schools. While the vote signals a potential path for changing the administration's plans, it also highlights the difficulty of uniting even Republicans behind such a significant policy shift.