During Thursday's town hall in Pittsburgh, PA, Rep. Summer Lee (D-PA) discussed Trump's executive order that dismantled the Department of Education.
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NewsTranscript
00:00We want to help you.
00:07We want to help you.
00:11Okay.
00:12Can you all hear me okay?
00:23Okay.
00:24So we've got quite a few questions.
00:25Lots of them.
00:26Use the mic.
00:27I'm here.
00:28Use the mic.
00:29This question, can you hear me?
00:30All right.
00:31This question is from, we're going to ask everyone to stand.
00:32If you, whoever asked the question, please stand.
00:33If you feel comfortable.
00:34You're not that tall.
00:35Okay.
00:36How will Congress save the Department of Education and Student Loan Forgiveness Act?
01:05Thank you so much for that question.
01:11I will start by saying that I am something like 90% sure that I am the member of Congress
01:18with the largest student loan debt.
01:20I mean, I'm not even saying that as an accomplishment, but it is to say to our mind that we are now
01:28in Congress and I think there was a time where I can actually tell you how many members of
01:32Congress has student loan debts because it's literally, we can probably count it on the
01:36one hand, very few.
01:38So very few people are even considering the impact of Trump's chaos on student loans.
01:43So just to frame what's happening right now, as I talked about the Department of Education
01:47today, just today, Donald Trump signed another executive order to dismantle the Department
01:53of Education.
01:54What he said, the assurance that he said is that they're giving it back to the states
01:59and that they will still reserve the power of the federal government to implement Title
02:03One programs, implement federal student loans, Pell Grants, and IDEA, which is the law that
02:11ensures that every student with a disability is still able to access a free and appropriate
02:17education.
02:18But what we know is, is that, well, first of all, let's say what we know, what is Congress
02:22going to do?
02:23Well, what we really need is for Republicans to grow a spine.
02:26The reality is, and I'm going to say this, but I'm going to say this a couple of times,
02:29we cannot have a dictatorship unless the Republicans in the House and the Senate say and give up
02:35their power as a co-equal branch of government.
02:38And we need to be putting pressure on them to remind them of why we are a co-equal branch
02:42of government.
02:43That's what it takes.
02:44Because the reality is, is that Donald Trump actually does not have the legal power to
02:47dismantle a federal agency that was authorized by an act of Congress and the Department of
02:54Education is the perfect example of that.
02:57He does not actually have the legal power to do so.
03:00So what he's actually trying to do right now is to piecemeal take it apart.
03:04And he's firing staff so that what ends up happening is, is that even though he hasn't
03:10gotten rid of the Department of Education legally, what's happening is, is that there
03:14is no capacity to actually implement the programs.
03:18And as we are fighting through our next budget fights, that they're deprioritizing the federal
03:24government being one of the financiers of public education in our country.
03:29Right?
03:30That's their ultimate goal.
03:31Their ultimate goal is to dismantle public education at the Department of Education,
03:34public education, so that we can have a privatized system so that people like Jeff Yass and other
03:39billionaires who are vested in the economic model of education can be able to do that.
03:45So that's the number one.
03:46We know that of course they're probably going to say that that is not legal and that he
03:49can't do that.
03:50But what we really need to do is, is we need people right now to understand what the Department
03:53of Education actually does.
03:55We need people to understand what the implications will be if the federal government is no longer
04:01funding or participating in public education at the rate that it is right now.
04:06And they're trying to tell you all that if we just put public education back to the states,
04:13then that means that the states should rightfully be able to do it.
04:16But the problem is, is that the states rely heavily on federal dollars, heavily.
04:20In Pittsburgh public school itself, you know, I think that public, that the federal government
04:25provides about $4,000 per child at least.
04:28The state of Pennsylvania, those numbers are similar.
04:31We rely on the federal government to provide dollars.
04:34If we cut it, this is what you can expect.
04:38If federal government does not fund public education at the rate that it does now or
04:41they dismantle the Department of Education, you, the taxpayer, will shoulder that burden.
04:46We have a property tax scheme in this state and largely around the country where the burden
04:50of funding public education largely falls on the taxpayer, the property taxes.
04:54And because we have a municipal school district system, municipality by municipality.
04:59So if you live in school districts like Woodland Hills or Penn Hills or Wilkinsburg, the city
05:04of Pittsburgh, you can imagine that your property taxes will skyrocket, will skyrocket.
05:09And I imagine that you all don't want that to happen.
05:12But the problem is, is that Elon Musk and the people who are running this whole scheme,
05:16they actually don't understand the implications.
05:19It's why we see them doing something and then having to backtrack.
05:23So what we need to do and what we're trying to do right now is to sound the alarm.
05:26We have to sound the alarm so that people, especially in Republican districts, rural
05:31communities rely on the Department of Education, all families with disabilities, with students
05:36with disabilities rely on the Department of Education, all low income families across
05:40the country through Title I schools rely on the Department of Education for implementation
05:45and for oversight of these programs.
05:47So if we get rid of those things, everybody is going to be impacted.
05:51So we need more participation.
05:53Last week, they went to the Department of Education offices here in Pittsburgh.
05:56I couldn't come because I had a cold, but we will be back out to keep sounding the alarm
06:01on this because really what we're going to have to rely on is Donald Trump not disobeying
06:06the courts.
06:09So that's going to bring another question.
06:10We don't have to ask it yet, but the next question is, is what happens when Donald Trump
06:13disobeys the courts?
06:14When Donald Trump disobeys the courts, it's going to be up to us to put parameters on
06:19him.
06:20The reality is, is that there is not a quick legislative fix, but if the people of this
06:25country will not abide him stepping over on our checks and balances, then we can put parameters
06:30on what we will allow him to do.
06:32When they hear from us, when they hear that districts across the country actually did
06:35not want the Department of Education to be dismantled, when we hear from our states,
06:40our states' attorneys generals, people like that will be rising up in a chorus very soon.
06:44We need that to happen very fast.
06:46We need people to get out information about what the impacts, how far we're going to be.
06:50But as for my Republican colleagues, I'm sorry, I will say I don't have a lot of faith in
06:54them being the parameter.
06:56I don't.
06:57And that's really unfortunate.
06:58It's really unfortunate because their districts rely on this too.
07:02So that is as best of an answer that I can give you today.