1 of 6 | Linda McMahon attends the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions confirmation hearing for her nomination as secretary of Education in the Dirksen Senate office building in Washington, D.C., on Thursday. Photo by Annabelle Gordon/UPI | License Photo
Feb. 13 (UPI) — National Education Association teachers’ union members and others often disrupted the Senate confirmation hearing of Education Department secretary nominee Linda McMahon on Thursday.
McMahon is President Donald Trump’s choice for education secretary and formerly led the World Wrestling Federation and WWE with her husband, Vince McMahon.
She also served a year on the Connecticut Board of Education and led the U.S. Small Business Administration during Trump’s first term as president, NPR reported.
The disruptions began when McMahon made opening comments to the members of the Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee and a protester loudly claimed McMahon was a threat to the Individuals with Disabilities Act.
Capitol security staff quickly removed the protester and all others as they disrupted the confirmation hearing.
McMahon later testified that she does not want to end IDEA but does want to see more oversight of the Education Department in its spending. She suggested the Department of Health and Human Services could manage oversight of IDEA.
McMahon said she intends to “get in and assess programs and how they can have the best oversight possible” and “take the bureaucracy out of education,” The Hill reported.
Many of the protesters identified themselves as teachers, public school graduates and others who claimed to have backgrounds in public education, NBC News reported.
Some cited concerns regarding transgender students, perceived threats to the nation’s public education system and opposing Elon Musk’s efforts to eliminate wasteful spending and fraud as director of the Department of Government Efficiency, in addition to preserving IDEA during the confirmation hearing.
NEA opposition
Many of the protesters were with the National Education Association, which is the nation’s largest teachers’ union, The Hill reported.
The NEA on Wednesday submitted a letter to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions in which NEA director of government relations Marc Egan opposed McMahon’s nomination as Education Secretary.
“The hearing will be an unparalleled opportunity for educators, parents and students to hear about Ms. McMahon’s record, lack of qualifications for the job and plans for carrying out recent executive orders aimed at ending the federal role in education,” Egan said.
A second interruption during the confirmation hearing occurred when a protester demanded McMahon and committee members “protect trans youth,” which quickly was followed by a protester who opposed Musk and the DOGE having access to Education Department databases.
Officials with the Department of Education recently began investigating schools and athletic organizations that enable students to compete in sports based on their respective gender identities instead of their biological sex.
Another protester declared he was a teacher and was removed by security,