Mark Takano Calls On Civil Servants At DoE To 'Stand Your Ground' Amid Trump's Push To Close Agency

2 days ago

During a press briefing on Wednesday, Rep. Mark Takano (D-CA) called on civil servants to not give in to the Trump Administration's push to shutter the Department of Education.

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Transcript

00:00Well, I think all federal employees, there are federal employees who were contemplating

00:14accepting the bonus to go away, but I believe there are many federal employees who believe

00:21it's their duty and their job to protect the students of this country.

00:27There are people in other departments in the federal government who understand the

00:32role of the civil service.

00:35An independent civil service, a meritorious civil service established by merit and not

00:42by spoils under the administration of Chester Arthur in the 1880s and several bills subsequent

00:50to that were passed to reform the civil service.

00:53We don't want a spoils system in our government.

00:57We don't want a reward your friends, punish your enemies, hire a bunch of your people

01:02that are your followers in the federal government.

01:05That's what the civil service is about.

01:08And to destroy that civil service is to destroy the evolved nature of our democracy, the evolved

01:16nature of the freedom that we enjoy, to not have the civil service turned into a spoils

01:23system and the instrument of an autocratic leader to get his will done.

01:32So I would say to those people in the Department of Education, stand your ground.

01:37Stand your ground.

01:38Don't give in.

01:39Obey your oath that you swore to, which is to the Constitution and the laws of our country.

01:46Ms. Moore, why don't you go ahead.

01:50I just want to say this.

01:51Let's keep in mind where all of this originated from.

01:56This came from Florida.

01:59This whole Department of Education closure came from the Moms of Liberty who would show

02:07up at school board meetings across Florida demanding that books be banned, that their

02:16children, their little boys were being turned into girls, that LBGTQ plus children should

02:25not be in our schools, that we were turning little boys into girls.

02:32All of this came about from Florida.

02:36And as it became popular, President Trump adopted it.

02:41And he started saying, well, why do all of this emanates from the Department of Education?

02:48So why do we need a Department of Education?

02:52Let these Moms of Liberty write our curriculum.

02:56Let these Moms of Liberty tell us how to educate our children.

03:02Let these Moms of Liberty tell us that you should not teach black history, that you should

03:10wipe the pages clean.

03:12Remember now, this is a conversation that's been going on for about 12 years during President

03:20Trump's first term.

03:23Just keep that in mind.

Mark Takano Calls On Civil Servants At DoE To 'Stand Your Ground' Amid Trump's Push To Close Agency

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