Senate panel advances bill blocking Education Department office transfers

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A Senate committee advanced SB5046, a bipartisan bill co-sponsored by Sens. Tim Kaine, Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski, to prohibit the Department of Education from transferring four offices — Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, Postsecondary Education, Indian Education, and Elementary and Secondary Education — to other federal agencies. The move responds to Secretary Linda McMahon's interagency agreements that shifted oversight functions, including special education and civil rights enforcement, to Justice and HHS. Sen. Patty Murray failed to block all transfers or prevent moving the Office for Civil Rights but succeeded in requiring DOE to disclose taxpayer costs; the bill now moves to the Senate floor.

Senate panel advanced a bill to block DOE office transfers