(CNN) — The Trump administration has begun drafting an executive order that would kick off the process of eliminating the Department of Education, the latest move by President Donald Trump to swiftly carry out his campaign promises, two sources familiar with the plans told CNN.
The move would come in two parts, the sources said. The order would direct the secretary of Education to create a plan to diminish the department through executive action.
Trump would also push for Congress to pass legislation to end the department, as those working on the order acknowledge that shuttering the department would require Congress’ involvement.
The president said Tuesday he wants his secretary of Education pick, Linda McMahon, to “put herself out of a job.”
“I told Linda, ‘Linda, I hope you do a great job in putting yourself out of a job.’ I want her to put herself out of a job – Education Department,” Trump said.
McMahon, who served as the head of the Small Business Administration during Trump’s first term, has yet to have a confirmation hearing for the top education post.
While calls to abolish the Education Department or merge it with another federal agency are not new, the move has historically failed to get support from Congress.
During Trump’s first term as president, his administration proposed merging the Education and Labor Departments into one federal agency. Even though Republicans controlled both the Senate and House of Representatives at the time, the proposal did not go anywhere.
This year, the Education Department is simultaneously being targeted by the Department of Government Efficiency, led by Elon Musk, as CNN previously reported.
Dozens of employees at the Education Department were placed on paid administrative leave Friday as part of the Trump administration’s larger effort to rid the federal workforce of employees associated with diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility efforts.
On the campaign trail, Trump repeatedly pointed to the department as a sign of federal overreach and tied it to culture war issues. “We will drain the government education swamp and stop the abuse of your taxpayer dollars to indoctrinate America’s youth with all sorts of things that you don’t want to have our youth hearing,” he said.
On Tuesday, Trump, an advocate for policies that make it easier for families to spend taxpayer funds on private education, lamented US educational performance and cost.
“We spend more per pupil than any other country in the world, and we’re ranked at the bottom of the list,” Trump said, adding that he wants to “let the states run schools.”
But even if he succeeded in ending the department, it’s possible that some programs and funding could be retained and shifted to other agencies, which is where they were housed before the department was created in 1979.
Federal funding programs for K-12 schools that help support the education of students from low-income families and children with disabilities, for example, predated the creation of the Department of Education.
When presidents have proposed cuts to the department’s budget in the past, Congress has resisted and appropriated more funding than what the president asked for about 71% of the time, according to an analysis from the Brookings Institution. Even when the first Trump administration proposed cutting the department’s budget, the Republican-controlled Congress ultimately increased funding.
CNN’s Betsy Klein and Piper Hudspeth Blackburn contributed to this report.
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