{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.welch.senate.gov/welch-slams-trump-admins-efforts-to-demolish-federal-education-programs-it-has-nothing-to-do-with-reform/", "Welch Slams Trump Admin\u2019s Efforts to Demolish Federal Education Programs: \u201cIt has nothing to do with reform.\u201d", "2025-12-17", "2025", "2025-12", "Democrat", "Senate", "VT", "Peter Welch", "W000800", "www.welch.senate.gov", "welch", "https://www.welch.senate.gov/category/press-release/page/", "scraper", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2014 U.S. Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.) this week joined a spotlight hearing titled: \u201cDismantling Education: What the Trump Administration\u2019s Illegal Attacks on Federal Programs Mean for Students, Families, and Educators,\u201d to highlight how the Trump Administration\u2019s efforts to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education would be detrimental for Vermont\u2019s students, families, educators, and schools.\n\n\u201cThe Trump Administration has taken a wrecking ball to essential federal education programs like Title I, which ensure first-generation, rural, and lower-income students get an equal opportunity to learn and grow. Despite our taxpayers spending one of the highest rates in the country for our students\u2019 education, Vermont now ranks well below the national average on reading and math scores. Just a decade ago, our students scored the 4th highest in the country,\u201d said Senator Welch. \u201cInstead of trying to dismantle the Department of Education, we should be doing everything in our power to give students the resources they need to succeed.\u201d\n\nSenator Welch\u2019s exchange with Rachel Gittleman, President of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 252, focused on how the Trump Administration\u2019s policies have endangered the ability of vital federal programs like TRIO to help hundreds of underserved students in Vermont succeed at higher education institutions.\n\nMs. Gittleman emphasized how the Trump Administration\u2019s proposal to move the TRIO program to the Department of Labor would be disastrous for students and TRIO\u2019s program infrastructure: \u201cThis has already led to students and higher education institutions dropping out of the program for fear of retaliation\u2014not because these students are not citizens, but because they support high immigrant populations at these institutions. This move is nothing but harmful to the very students who rely on this funding just to have the same opportunities as kids from other backgrounds.\u201d\n\nWatch Senator Welch\u2019s full remarks below:\n\nThe bicameral forum focused on the Trump Administration\u2019s recent proposal to illegally move nearly all federal K-12 programs\u2014and many higher education programs\u2014to other federal agencies, which have limited capacity and no prior experience to run such programs. Last month, the Department of Education announced that it would partner with the Departments of Labor, Interior, Health and Human Services, and State to conduct the transfer of these programs. This move would fulfill President Trump\u2019s campaign promise to eliminate the Department of Education and weaken the federal government\u2019s role in ensuring that all students have access to a quality education.\n\nAt the forum, witnesses comprised of K-12 education leaders and civil rights experts spoke about how abolishing the Department of Education\u2014and moving education programs to other federal agencies\u2014would harm students across the country, especially those from low-income, rural, Native, migrant, and federally-impacted communities.\n\nThe forum featured testimony from Rachel Gittleman; Randi Weingarten, President, American Federation of Teachers; Denise Forte, President and CEO, The Education Trust; Dr. Amy Loyd, CEO, All4Ed; Chad Rummel, Executive Director, Council for Exceptional Children; and Angelica Infante-Green, Rhode Island Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education, Rhode Island Department of Education.\n\nThe forum was led by Senator Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) and attended by Sens. Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.).\n\nWatch a livestream of the spotlight forum here.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T20:09:11Z"]], "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.welch.senate.gov/welch-slams-trump-admins-efforts-to-demolish-federal-education-programs-it-has-nothing-to-do-with-reform/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.7343790493905544, "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"}