{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.bluntrochester.senate.gov/news/press-releases/news-senator-blunt-rochester-joins-markey-colleagues-to-demand-education-department-withdraw-proposed-rule-gutting-equity-assistance-centers/", "NEWS: Senator\u00a0Blunt Rochester Joins Markey,\u00a0Colleagues\u00a0to Demand\u00a0Education Department Withdraw Proposed Rule Gutting Equity Assistance Centers", "2026-08-11", "2026", "2026-08", "Democrat", "Senate", "DE", "Lisa Blunt Rochester", "B001303", "www.bluntrochester.senate.gov", "bluntrochester", "https://www.bluntrochester.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/", "scraper", "Senator Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.) joined Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), top Democrat on the Primary Health and Retirement Security Subcommittee of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, and other colleagues in writing to Linda McMahon, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Education, to condemn the agency\u2019s efforts to gut the Equity Assistance Centers (EACs), which provide free technical assistance to school districts, states, and communities to prepare, adopt, and implement plans to desegregate public schools in compliance with federal civil rights law.\n\nThe Department of Education\u2019s decision to dismantle the EACs with its proposed rule, \u201cRescinding the Equity Assistance Center Program Regulations,\u201d upends a longstanding congressionally funded program and joins similar actions from the Administration in destroying civil rights enforcement infrastructure. As a result, schools, students, and parents will be left without these resources at a time of persistent segregation and growing inequality.\n\nIn the letter, the lawmakers wrote, \u201cAs with other efforts to erode federal civil rights oversight and enforcement, ED\u2019s proposed rule is \u2018like throwing away your umbrella in a rainstorm because you are not getting wet.\u2019 While the rule claims to offer \u2018flexibility\u2019 in desegregation compliance efforts, the Administration\u2019s actions reveal that its goal is to throw away the umbrella, not find a raincoat instead. We urge the Department to withdraw this proposed rule, ensure that the federal government upholds the civil rights of all students, and work to ensure all students can attend schools that are not segregated.\u201d\n\nCo-signers of the letter include Senators Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), and Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.).", 1, "2026-08-12T06:18:38Z", "2026-08-12T06:20:33Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.bluntrochester.senate.gov/news/press-releases/news-senator-blunt-rochester-joins-markey-colleagues-to-demand-education-department-withdraw-proposed-rule-gutting-equity-assistance-centers/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8043751586228609, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}