Education secretary nominee Linda McMahon is one step closer to being confirmed after her nomination cleared a key procedural vote Thursday.
The full Senate advanced McMahon’s nomination in a 51-47 vote, setting up the nominee for a final confirmation vote on Monday. The vote was on party lines with no Democrats joining Republicans in moving the nomination.
McMahon was grilled by senators earlier this month on her future boss’s plans for the Education Department, an agency President Donald Trump has said he wants to close. The president has also said he told McMahon to put herself out of a job.
McMahon, a fierce Trump loyalist who led the Small Business Administration during his first term, has promised to carry out the president’s agenda. The business executive said Congress would be involved in decisions about the Education Department’s future in her confirmation hearing before the Senate HELP Committee.
She also underscored that Congress would continue appropriating funds for education programs in that hearing. But McMahon stopped short of committing to maintaining the Education Department’s role in administering federal funds for entities like federal student aid and historically Black colleges and universities in written responses to a pair of Democratic senators.
