WATCH: McMahon insists she runs Department of Education, not DOGE
May 21, 2025
12,311
112
0.91%
Search the Record
IndexedEvery word spoken in this episode is indexed. Type any phrase to jump straight to the moment it was said.
Type any word or phrase that may have been spoken. Click a result to seek the player to that exact moment.
Try a name, a topic, or a quoted line
Amna Nawaz Episodes Around May 21, 2025
See what was published immediately before and after this episode.
5:50Now PlayingWATCH: McMahon insists she runs Department of Education, not DOGE
YouTube Description
as posted by the channelEducation Secretary Linda McMahon insisted that she runs the Department of Education, not Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, when questioned by Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Wis., Wednesday during her testimony before the House Appropriations Committee to discuss the White House’s proposed budget for the department.
Pointing out that 1,300 employees were fired and another 600 took a buyout, McMahon said “a good majority” of those removals “happened before I came on board.” Pocan later pressed McMahon about why 74 people were later asked to return to their jobs after having been dismissed. McMahon defended the practice, saying she had participated in a similar restructuring in the private sector.
“You hope that you’re just cutting fat,” McMahon said. “Sometimes, you cut in the muscle.”
But, Pocan argued, that the practice could have been prevented by working to "plan ahead" and not firing people that would eventually be asked to re-join the team.
Subscribe for exclusive content in our newsletters
PBS News podcasts
Stream your PBS favorites with the PBS app
Find more from PBS News at
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Guests & Subjects Covered
Sentinel Indexing in Progress
Metadata and chapters are available. Claim extraction for this episode is pending.
All video content is delivered via YouTube embedded players in accordance with the YouTube Terms of Service. Sentinel provides research tools that promote discovery and accountability across political media.