Secretary of Education Linda McMahon stumbled over a key acronym at her department during an interview on Fox News Tuesday
In an interview with Laura Ingraham, McMahon defended her department’s decision to slash their workforce, but said they will continue to deliver on key programs including student loans, pell grants and funding for students with special needs.
She explained that Congress appropriates money through the department’s expenditures and programs including the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), which provides free public education for students with special needs.
But, McMahon was caught off guard when Ingraham asked what IDEA meant.
“Well, do you know what? I’m not sure I can tell you exactly what it stands for, except that it’s the programs for disabled and need,” McMahon said.
Ingraham had no idea what the acronym means either despite spending years calling for the education department to be abolished.
“This is my fifth day on the job, and I’m really trying to learn them very quickly,” McMahon replied.
McMahon, the former CEO of WWE was confirmed as education secretary by the Republican controlled Senate last week. She told Ingraham that the upcoming cuts to the department was part of Donald Trump’s mandate.
“That was the President’s mandate. His directive to me, clearly, is to shut down the Department of Education,” McMahon said, according to the Daily Beast. “What we did today was to take the first step of eliminating what I think is bureaucratic bloat.”
On Tuesday, the education department announced it is slashing their federal workforce of 4,133 people down to 2,183. Laid-off employees will be officially placed on administrative leave beginning March 21.
“We wanted to make sure that we kept all of the right people, the good people, to make sure that the outward-facing programs, the grants, the appropriations that come from Congress, all of that are being met, and none of that is going to fall through the cracks,” McMahon said.
