(AFP) – US President Donald Trump is set to sign a fresh set of executive orders Tuesday amid reports that he will kick off his election campaign vow to gut the federal education department. Trump cannot abolish the department without the approval of Congress, which he is unlikely to get, but US media reported Tuesday that he would issue orders to effectively dismantle it from the inside.
The White House confirmed Trump was due to sign the latest in a slew of executive orders since his assumption of power on January 20, but did not specify what they were. The reports come amid a wider blitz on the federal government led by Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, that effectively shuttered the USAID humanitarian aid agency on Monday. Musk’s “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) was already probing data at the education department, the Washington Post newspaper reported on Monday.
The tech tycoon referenced the report on his social media network X, saying that while former US president and conservative icon Ronald Reagan had not honored his vow to abolish the department in the 1980s, “President @realDonaldTrump will succeed.” During the 2024 election campaign, Trump repeatedly promised to do away with the department if he won a second term in power, returning decisions on the subject to US states.
The Republican billionaire has repeatedly said the department has too much spending power even as global metrics show the United States lagging far behind other countries in school standards. He has also criticized US schools for being too liberal. Last week, he signed several executive orders regarding hot-button topics in education — including race, gender, and college campus protests.
Trump has nominated Linda McMahon — the former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment — to lead the education department, in a move widely seen as signaling his intention to downgrade it. At the culmination of a staged feud, Trump once body-slammed her husband, legendary wrestling promoter Vince McMahon, and shaved his head in the middle of a wrestling ring on live television.
© 2024 AFP
