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Category: Administration

Trump Taps Linda McMahon to lead Education Department

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On Tuesday, President-elect Donald Trump tapped Linda McMahon, a longtime ally and co-chair of his transition team, to lead the Department of Education. McMahon served as head of the Small Business Administration during Trump’s first term.

McMahon’s relationship with the President-elect spans decades, beginning when she and her husband founded World Wrestling Entertainment, or WWE. After stepping down from her role as chief executive of WWE, McMahon was appointed to the Connecticut State Board of Education, a position she held for one year before launching two unsuccessful campaigns to represent Connecticut in the Senate.

Following her Senate bids, McMahon became a prominent Republican donor and vocal supporter of then-candidate Trump. After his victory in the 2016 election, McMahon was chosen to lead the Small Business Administration. The choice was praised by Senators Blumenthal and Murphy, the two Democrats who defeated her in her Senate campaigns. Blumenthal praised her as “a person of serious accomplishment and ability,” with Murphy calling McMahon a “talented and experienced businessperson.” McMahon resigned from her post without controversy in 2019 and was praised by Trump as “one of our all-time favorites” and a “superstar.”

McMahon stayed close to Trump following her departure from the administration, chairing America First Action, a super PAC that backed Trump’s 2020 presidential run. Following his loss in the 2020 election, she helped to start the America First Policy Institute, a conservative policy group advocating for Trump’s agenda and preparing for a second term. McMahon has been serving as the co-chair of Trump’s transition team with Howard Lutnick, a Wall Street executive who was recently tapped to lead the Commerce Department.

President-elect Trump has repeatedly called for the dissolution of the Department of Education, and McMahon will now lead the agency. In a statement, Trump said that as Secretary of Education, “Linda will fight tirelessly to expand ‘Choice’ to every State in America, and empower parents to make the best Education decisions for their families.”

The America First Policy Institute has advocated for the elimination of degree requirements for public sector careers, the abolishment of DEI initiatives at state universities, and the reversal of President Biden’s student debt relief plan.

While serving on the Connecticut State Board of Education, McMahon told lawmakers that she had initially planned to become a teacher and had a lifelong interest in education. Additionally, she spent many years as a trustee for Sacred Heart University in Connecticut

 

Read more here and here.

Explore the America First Policy Institute’s higher education page here.

Nominee to Head NIH Clears Committee

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Earlier this morning, the nomination of Monica Bertagnolli to head the National Institutes of Health (NIH) was approved by the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee by a bipartisan vote of 15 to 6.  Bertagnolli, the current director of the National Cancer Institute, was nominated by President Biden earlier this year to take over the NIH, which has not had a permanent head since the retirement of Francis Collins.

What Will They Come Up With Next?

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After turning back approximately a dozen amendments during the floor debate last night, the Senate adopted by a 63 to 36 vote the debt limit bill, clearing it for the President’s signature later today.  The Treasury Department had been warning that the nation would lose its ability to pay all of its bills next Monday.  The House cleared the bill earlier this week.  

While the fight over the debt limit has become much more partisan and political recently, this year’s fight represents the closest the nation has come to actually defaulting on its debts.

Almost There…

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After much back-and-forth and a final round of negotiations last weekend, the White House and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) came to an agreement on a debt ceiling package earlier this week.   Yesterday evening, the House passed the legislation in a bipartisan manner, by a vote of 314 – 117.  The Senate must now take it up.

While its details are still being digested, the package contains the following provisions, among others:

  • a suspension of the debt limit until January 1, 2025 
  • essentially a freeze in discretionary spending for both FY2024 and FY2025 relative to FY2023, the current fiscal year
    • as part of the spending limits for the next two years, the legislation sets separate spending caps on “security” and “non-security” programs for the next two fiscal years
  • a mandatory cut of one percent in discretionary spending if all 12 annual appropriations are not signed into law by January 1 each fiscal year for the next two years
  • prohibition on further extensions of the student loan repayment deferrals– repayments would restart by early September

The legislation also includes a package of recissions, the details of which are still being assessed.  We will share additional information about them as they come to light.

Not surprisingly, there was drama in the House before the floor vote, as some members of the hard-right wing of the House Republicans blasted the deal.  There were questions about whether, procedurally, McCarthy had enough support to even bring the bill to the floor.  

As noted above, the bill now goes to the Senate, where both Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) urged support for it among their colleagues.

Read more about the developments here, here, and here. 

OSTP Virtual Public Listening Sessions on Open Science

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This week and next week, the White House Office of Science & Technology (OSTP) is hosting a series of live sessions aimed at listening to the perspectives of early career researchers on open science. OSTP is seeking input from undergraduate students, graduate students, and postdoctoral fellows as well as those involved in training and capacity building, including librarians, educators, and administrators. Participants will have the opportunity to speak during the session and should indicate their interest in doing so in the registration form.

Please visit the links below to register for any of the four upcoming virtual listening sessions. The listening sessions are as follows:

For more information on the sessions, click here.