Rep. Bobby Scott of Virginia, the top Democrat on the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, said he plans to “leave no rock unturned” as he takes the helm of the panel's investigative powers, which include authority to issue subpoenas and hold hearings.
The committee is preparing to explore the Trump administration's dismantling of the Education Department, its oversight of federal student loans and its anti-discrimination policies, Scott said. Under Trump, the Education Department has prioritized efforts to stop such things as biological boys from playing in female sports or entering female washrooms.
Meanwhile, Sen. Chris Van Hollen, a Maryland Democrat on the Appropriations Committee said there's also interest in conditioning federal funding to rein in Trump’s battle to reshape higher education, including the White House’s repeated efforts to cut funding at Harvard and other universities. The Trump administration took those steps as a way of forcing those schools to deal with antisemitism on their campuses.
Todd Wolfson, president of the American Association of University Professors, said that, for the first time, the group endorsed candidates, including anti-Israel Democrat Abdul El-Sayed who won Miichigan’s open Senate seat. Now, Wolfson is looking not just at reversing some of what has happened during the Trump administration, but building a campaign for a free public higher education system.
Despite their new power, there's little optimism that Democrats will be able to override Trump's veto on big education bills.
