Former professional wrestling executive Linda McMahon will face questions from lawmakers on Thursday about whether she’s qualified to lead the U.S. Department of Education.
McMahon, a Greenwich Republican and close ally of President Donald Trump, is scheduled to appear before the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions at 10 a.m. Thursday for a hearing on her nomination to be U.S. education secretary.
The confirmation hearing comes as questions mount about the future of the department McMahon is tapped to lead. Trump has called for closing the department and shifting more responsibility to states. Multiple news outlets reported this month that his administration is preparing an executive order that would dismantle its existing programs.
McMahon’s appearance Thursday will give lawmakers a chance to scrutinize her past work and future plans for the role.
U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, a Connecticut Democrat, sits on the congressional committee holding the confirmation hearing. Murphy told The Associated Press that he met recently with McMahon and told her that closing the Department of Education would be devastating for students across the nation.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a fellow Connecticut Democrat, told Connecticut Public in January he is leaning against voting to confirm McMahon’s nomination.
“If she implements the Trump agenda, as the president elect has said she would, it would mean very strong cutbacks on aid to our high schools and elementary schools, as well as our community colleges,” he said.
But several key Senate Republicans have spoken positively about McMahon’s selection for the job, including Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy, the committee chair, who wrote in a social media post in January that McMahon is prepared to “return power to parents” and enact reforms after missteps under the Biden administration.
Derek Black, a law professor at the University of South Carolina who specializes in education policy, said McMahon will face tough questions during the hearing. But she may prove less controversial than Trump’s other cabinet picks.
“As a manager of people, she may very well be quite impressive,” Black said. “But as someone who understands public education, I’m guessing that she’s relatively unimpressive. She’s atypical in that respect. She’s not this high profile education figure.”
McMahon is perhaps best known to wrestling fans as the former chief executive officer of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). She has received praise from both sides of the aisle for her business acumen, though critics question whether her background as an entertainment industry executive makes her qualified to oversee the country’s federal education programs.
McMahon served for about one year on the Connecticut Board of Education in 2009, and is a longtime trustee of Sacred Heart University in Fairfield.
McMahon turned to politics after leaving the WWE, running unsuccessfully for U.S. Senate. She has donated millions to get Trump elected, and served as administrator of the Small Business Administration during his first term.
Trump's administration has already made significant changes at the department, including ending existing contracts worth $881 million, according to a message posted on social media Monday by the U.S. Department of Government Efficiency, the new agency tasked by the president with cutting wasteful government programs.
The administration has also taken aim at education programs that promote diversity, equity and inclusion, terminating 29 DEI training grants totaling more than $100 million, according to another social media post. One such program sought to train teachers to “help students understand / interrogate the complex histories involved in oppression, and help students recognize areas of privilege and power on an individual and collective basis,” according to the post.
Trump has also issued several executive orders since taking office that affect education programs, including measures that aim to combat campus antisemitism, expand school choice programs through the use of discretionary federal grants and end “radical indoctrination” in K-12 schooling.
If McMahon receives a favorable recommendation from the committee, her nomination will proceed to a floor vote in the Senate.
