Rep. Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR) announced she will introduce a resolution to impeach Secretary of Education Linda McMahon, accusing her of illegally gutting the Department of Education by shifting more than 100 programs to other federal agencies without congressional approval.
The resolution alleges McMahon violated her oath of office, made false and misleading statements to Congress, and broke federal law by transferring the operations of multiple offices to agencies outside the Department — actions Bonamici says only Congress has the power to authorize.
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What The Resolution Claims
According to Bonamici’s office, McMahon has approved at least seven interagency agreements since taking office that moved core Department functions elsewhere.
Among them:
- Treasury to take over the collection of defaulted student loans
- Carl D. Perkins career and technical education programs moved to Labor
- Special education services under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act shifted to HHS
- Civil rights enforcement was routed to the Department of Justice.
“Secretary McMahon has betrayed students, families, and educators by dismantling and demolishing the Department of Education, something she does not have authority to do,” Bonamici said. “Congress created the Department and it would take an Act of Congress to shut it down.“
Why It Matters
The resolution puts a formal label — “high crimes and misdemeanors” — on a dismantling effort that has been building for more than a year. McMahon told the House education committee in May that the administration was delivering on a “mandate” to sunset the Department, which has shrunk from roughly 4,200 staff in 2024 to about 2,300 in 2026.
For students and borrowers, the practical question is who actually runs the programs they depend on. Federal student aid, special education protections, and civil rights enforcement are statutory obligations.
Moving the people and money behind them to agencies that have never administered them raises real questions about oversight, continuity, and whether funds Congress appropriated reach schools as intended.
Reality Check
Impeachment of a Cabinet secretary is exceedingly rare: it has happened only twice, to Secretary of War William Belknap in 1876 and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas in 2024, and neither was convicted.
As a resolution from a minority-party member, Bonamici’s measure faces almost no path forward. House leadership controls whether it ever reaches a floor vote, and conviction would require a two-thirds Senate majority that does not exist.
The move is best understood as a formal protest and a marker for the legal and political fight over the Department’s future, not a credible threat to remove McMahon.
The more consequential battles are likely to play out in court, where the central dispute is the same one Bonamici raises: whether the executive branch can relocate congressionally created programs without Congress signing off.
How This Connects
The College Investor has tracked the Department’s wind-down closely, from Trump’s March executive order directing McMahon to begin shutting it down to the Supreme Court greenlighting mass layoffs and the student loan portfolio’s move toward the Treasury Department. In May House testimony, McMahon defended the program transfers and confirmed more than 100 obligations had already been reassigned.
Bonamici’s resolution is the latest escalation in that ongoing fight, and the legal question at its core (what the administration can do without Congress) will shape how federal aid and protections function for the millions of Americans who depend on them.
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Editor: Colin Graves
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