WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin’s (D-WI) bipartisan legislation to block key elements of President Trump’s effort to shut down the Department of Education advanced on a bipartisan vote out of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee. The bill would block some of the deals, called Interagency Agreements, that allow the transfer of special education and primary and secondary education out of the Department of Education and under the purview of other, sometimes nonsensical, federal agencies. The legislation is now teed up for a vote by the full Senate. Today at the hearing, Senator Baldwin also supported an amendment to go further than the proposed legislation and block the Trump Administration from transferring all proposed other programs out of the Department of Education, including civil rights enforcement and career and technical education, but that effort was defeated by Republicans.

“Americans expect our government to put our children first, not absurd campaign slogans, when it comes to how we provide education for millions of kids and young Americans. Instead, President Trump is prioritizing his half-baked campaign promise to shut down the Department of Education over our kids’ wellbeing. Haphazardly putting programs like special education and elementary education under agencies and leaders who have zero relevant experience is dangerous and will have devastating consequences for our students,” said Senator Baldwin. “I’ve been fighting for months to stop this attack on our local schools and special education and will continue working with anyone to reverse these changes before it’s too late for our students.”

Specifically, the legislation would prevent the Department of Education from relinquishing the Offices of Special Education and Rehabilitation Services, Postsecondary Education, Elementary and Secondary Education, and Indian Education, or any programs within those offices to other agencies that lack the staff and expertise needed to execute their missions. On June 16, 2026, the Trump administration announced four Interagency Agreements (IAA) that would illegally move the administration of special education programs under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), and vocational rehabilitation programs authorized under the Rehabilitation Act from the ED to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). They also transfer fundamental civil rights enforcement responsibility away from ED to the Department of Justice (DOJ). The amendment Senator Baldwin supported would have blocked the transfer of all of these programs. 

Last month, Senator Baldwin led dozens of her colleagues in demanding that the Trump administration follow the law in which Congress authorized these programs to be carried out by ED, including most recently in annual bipartisan funding legislation for Fiscal Year 2026. Last week, she sat down in Madison with parents, teachers, and school officials to talk about how transferring these programs out of the Department of Education would hurt students.