President Trump signs an executive order to dismantle the Department of Education.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States.
00:31Well, thank you very much.
00:45Thank you very much, everyone.
00:49And I'd like to start by saying that our country is doing very well.
00:53Things are, as you can see, doing quite well.
00:56Please sit down.
00:59Before we begin, I just want to announce
01:03that I signed a proclamation a few moments ago
01:07honoring the 250th anniversary of Patrick Henry's famous speech
01:12to the Second Virginia Convention,
01:14in which he declared very well-known, very famous words,
01:18Give me liberty or give me death.
01:20Has anyone heard the phrase?
01:22I think most of you have.
01:24Give me liberty or give me death.
01:28And moments ago, I also signed an executive order
01:31to dramatically increase production of critical minerals and rare earths.
01:35It's a big thing in this country.
01:37And as you know, we're also signing agreements in various locations
01:42to unlock rare earths and minerals and lots of other things all over the world.
01:48But in particular, Ukraine, we're doing very well
01:52with regard to Ukraine and Russia.
01:55And one of the things we are doing is signing a deal very shortly
01:59with respect to rare earths with Ukraine,
02:02which they have a tremendous value in rare earth,
02:05and we appreciate that.
02:07And we spoke yesterday with, as you know,
02:10President Putin and President Zelensky,
02:13and we would love to see that come to an end.
02:15And I think we're doing pretty well in that regard.
02:18So hopefully we can save thousands of people a week from dying.
02:22That's what it's all about.
02:23They're dying so unnecessarily.
02:26And I believe we'll get it done.
02:28We'll see what happens.
02:30But I believe we'll get it done.
02:33Today, we take a very historic action that was 45 years in the making.
02:38In a few moments, I will sign an executive order
02:41to begin eliminating the Federal Department of Education once and for all.
02:50Thank you very much.
03:03And it sounds strange, doesn't it?
03:04Department of Education, we're going to eliminate it,
03:06and everybody knows it's right.
03:08And the Democrats know it's right,
03:10and I hope they're going to be voting for it
03:12because ultimately it may come before them.
03:14But everybody knows it's right,
03:16and we're going to go with the world of education in this country,
03:21and we haven't for a long time.
03:23And we're pleased to be joined today by the woman who I chose
03:28because she's an extraordinary person,
03:31and hopefully she will be our last Secretary of Education, Linda McMahon.
03:36Linda.
03:39Thank you very much.
03:43That's another interesting statement.
03:45That's an interesting opening, right?
03:47But it's true, and people, it's been amazing how popular this has been.
03:52I tell people that this is what I'm doing today,
03:55and they say, oh, it's about time.
03:57Everybody says it.
03:59Republicans and Democrats have said it.
04:01They're all saying it.
04:02Also with us are some terrific people.
04:05Governor Greg Abbott.
04:07Greg, thank you very much.
04:13Governor Ron DeSantis, thank you very much, Ron.
04:19Mike Braun, congratulations on your victory, Mike.
04:22That was a big one.
04:25Mike DeWine, thank you very much, Mike.
04:30Jeff Landry.
04:32Jeff, thank you very much, Jeff.
04:35Bill Lee, thank you.
04:37Governors, all governors.
04:39Brad Little.
04:40Brad, thank you very much.
04:42How are you, Brad?
04:43Hi, Brad.
04:44Jim Piland, thank you very much, Jim.
04:48And Kim Reynolds.
04:50These are all people very interested in education.
04:53And I even see Dan Patrick over there, my friend Dan Patrick.
04:58We're joined also by Representatives Tim Wahlberg and Virginia Foxx,
05:06Rick Allen, Michael Rooley.
05:11And again, Dan Patrick.
05:12Thank you very much, Dan.
05:13You've been a great friend of ours.
05:17And State Attorneys General Ken Paxton.
05:20Ken, I see you there.
05:22Andrew Bailey.
05:23Andrew, what a job you've done, Andrew.
05:26You have some good cases going.
05:28You've done a great job.
05:29Thank you very much.
05:31And co-founder of Moms for Liberty, Tiffany Justice.
05:35She's been a hard worker.
05:38Thank you, Tiffany.
05:41When President Carter created the Federal Education Department in 1979,
05:46it was opposed by members of his own Cabinet
05:49as well as the American Federation of Teachers,
05:52the New York Times editorial board,
05:55and the famed Democrat Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan.
05:59History has proven them right, absolutely right.
06:03After 45 years, the United States spends more money on education
06:07by far than any other country.
06:09And spends, likewise, by far, more money per pupil than any country,
06:15and it's not even close.
06:16But yet, we rank near the bottom of the list in terms of success.
06:21It's an amazing stat.
06:23Those are two stats you don't want.
06:25The most money spent per pupil, and you're at the bottom of the list.
06:29And that's where we are, like it or not.
06:31And we've been there for a long time.
06:3370% of 8th graders are not proficient in either reading or in math.
06:3970%.
06:4040% of 4th graders lack even basic reading skills.
06:44Can't read.
06:45Students in our public elementary and middle schools
06:48score worse in reading today than when the department opened by a lot.
06:55In Baltimore, 40% of the high schools have zero students
06:59who can do basic mathematics.
07:01Not even the very simplest of mathematics.
07:04I said, give me your definition of basic,
07:07and they're talking about, like, adding a few numbers together.
07:11Despite these breathtaking failures,
07:13the department's discretionary budget has exploded by 600%
07:18in a very short period of time,
07:20and it employs bureaucrats in buildings all over Washington, D.C.
07:24And as a former real estate person, I will tell you,
07:27I ride through the streets of Washington,
07:29and it says Department of Education, Department of Education.
07:33I said, how do you fill those buildings?
07:35It's crazy what's happened over the years.
07:38I'm pleased to report that after offering these federal employees
07:43two generous buyout options, and they were very generous,
07:46and they're good people, but they were very generous,
07:50my administration has initiated a reduction in force,
07:53and we're already cutting numbers that were really surprising to a lot,
07:58that we were able to do it so successfully,
08:01and we've cut the number of bureaucrats in half.
08:0550% have taken office, which is great.
08:13Under the action I am taking today,
08:16a small handful of Democrats and others that we have employed for a long time,
08:22and there are some Republicans, but not too many, I have to be honest with you,
08:26but the department's useful functions, such as they're in charge of them,
08:32Pell Grants, Title I funding, resources for children with disabilities
08:36and special needs will be preserved, fully preserved.
08:41They're all going to be.
08:42So if you look at the Pell Grants, supposed to be a very good program,
08:45Title I funding and resources for children with special disabilities
08:50and special needs, they're going to be preserved in full
08:54and redistributed to various other agencies and departments
08:59that will take very good care of them.
09:01And that's very important to Linda, I know, and it's very important to all of us.
09:05But beyond these core necessities, my administration will take all lawful steps to shut down the department.
09:12We're going to shut it down and shut it down as quickly as possible.
09:15It's doing us no good.
09:16We want to return our students to the states where just some of the governors here are so happy about this.
09:23They want education to come back to them, to come back to the states,
09:27and they're going to do a phenomenal job.
09:29You know, if you look, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, I have to tell you, I give them a lot of credit.
09:36China's a top 10.
09:38And so we can't now say that bigness is making it impossible to educate because China is very big.
09:45But you have countries that do a very good job in education.
09:49And I really believe, like some of the governors here today, from states that run very, very well,
09:55including a big state like Texas, but states that run very well are going to have education
10:01that will be as good as Norway, Denmark, Sweden, and those top Finland,
10:06those top countries that do so well with education.
10:09I think they'll do every bit as well.
10:12And what do you think about that, Governor?
10:14Do you agree?
10:15I think so.
10:16Ron, do you agree?
10:17I think so.
10:19Iowa?
10:20That's right.
10:21I really believe that.
10:22They'll be as good as any of them.
10:24And then you'll have some laggards, and we'll work with them.
10:29And we can all tell you who the laggards will be right now, probably, but let's not get into that.
10:34But we'll work with them, and we're going to make them – they'll do a job.
10:38I think they'll do a job.
10:39And they'll go to sections of the state.
10:41For instance, New York, you'll have a Manhattan, and you'll have a Suffolk County,
10:46and you'll have Nassau County, and you'll have Westchester County.
10:50You'll do four or five or six of them.
10:52You have upstate New York.
10:53And those counties, I think, are going to do very well.
10:56And I think, ultimately, Manhattan should do very well.
10:58But we'll break it down into sections, and I think it'll be really, really good.
11:03And they're going to be probably the tougher ones, but I think they have a chance to do really well.
11:09But we're going to be returning education, very simply, back to the states where it belongs.
11:16And this is a very popular thing to do, but much more importantly, it's a common-sense thing to do.
11:22And it's going to work.
11:23Absolutely it's going to work.
11:25And I can tell you from dealing with the governors and others in the state, they want it so badly.
11:31They want to take their children back and really teach their children individually.
11:36Probably the cost will be half, and the education will be maybe many, many times better.
11:44So we look forward to this.
11:46I want to just make one little personal statement.
11:49Teachers, to me, are among the most important people in this country.
11:53And we're going to take care of our teachers.
11:55And I don't care if they're in the union or not in the union.
11:58That doesn't matter.
12:00But we're going to take care of our teachers.
12:02And I believe the states will take actually better care of them than they are taken care of right now.
12:10They'll work all sorts of systems, and even merit systems.
12:13Those great teachers are going to be maybe a little bit better rewarded, or maybe that's the way it should be.
12:18But the states are going to make that decision.
12:20But we're going to love and cherish our teachers along with our children.
12:24And they're going to work with the parents, and they're going to work with everybody else.
12:28And it's going to be an amazing thing to watch.
12:30And it's really going to be something special.
12:32And, Linda, you're presiding over something that's so important.
12:36And you're going to do a fantastic job, just like you have your whole life.
12:40I know your whole life I've been watching you.
12:42I've been watching you for a long time.
12:44She's had nothing but success.
12:46So it's tremendous to have you.
12:48And hopefully you won't be there too long.
12:50But we're going to find something else for you, Linda, okay?
12:53So this will conclude what we are talking about with respect to our most cherished group of people, and that's our children.
13:03We want to have our children well-educated.
13:06We want them to love going to school.
13:08We have examples of it.
13:10Look at those beautiful, bright-eyed faces.
13:13They are so smart.
13:15They're so smart.
13:18And with that, I'm going to come down, and we're going to sign a very important document, and we're going to be on our way.
13:25People have wanted to do this for many, many years, for many, many decades.
13:29And I don't know, no president ever got around to doing it, but I'm getting around to doing it.
13:34So thank you very much.
13:48Good-looking people here.
13:57Can I do this?
14:01Can I do it?
14:04Thanks.
14:13It was very lucky.
14:14I saw a number of documents that turned out to be very good for the country, and I said, let's use that same pen.
14:20I don't know.
14:21Is anybody superstitious?
14:22Robert, are you superstitious?
14:24Let's use that same pen.
15:04Can you come up?
15:05It's the same.
15:11It's very important to have a big factor here.
15:14Thank you very much.
15:33Thank you very much.