'It's completely out of bounds': Democrat launches Linda McMahon impeachment effort
Rep. Suzanne Bonamici, D-Ore., on Thursday introduced articles of impeachment against Education Secretary Linda McMahon for attempting to abolish the Department of Education.
Though Democrats have been critical of McMahon’s agenda of dismantling the department she leads, Bonamici’s resolution is their first effort to impeach her.
On the House floor Thursday, Bonamici said that McMahon has lied to Congress and she scolded the secretary for making "illegal transfers" of critical Education Department functions to partner agencies.
"It's completely out of bounds," Bonamici told ABC News after her floor speech. "You can't just unilaterally move a program that Congress put at the Department of Education and put it somewhere else," she said.
The articles of impeachment argue that McMahon has shown a "willful and systemic refusal to comply with the law" and that she's breached the public's trust while making false statements before Congress.
Responding to Bonamici's post on X that she was announcing a plan to impeach McMahon, the secretary wrote, "To the Democrats in Congress: do better."
"It speaks volumes that House Democrats think an impeachable offense is working to improve student outcomes and reduce the federal bureaucracy," McMahon wrote. "They must not be bothered by chronic failures of our education system that result in historic low test scores, a failed FAFSA form rollout, classrooms shuttered during COVID, designating parents as terrorists, and males in female locker rooms."
Recently the department announced a major step in the Trump administration's efforts to dismantle itself -- moving special education services and civil rights responsibilities to the departments of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Justice (DOJ), respectively.
Department officials claim that the agency has broad authority to move the services, noting that policies and oversight made by these offices will be vested and remain at the education department, saying students wouldn't lose any rights.
So far, the impeachment resolution has a growing list of more than a dozen Democratic co-sponsors from across the caucus. But Democrats' calls to impeach Trump administration officials would have a long road ahead while they're in the minority: they would have to get a vote to impeach in the Republican-controlled House and two-thirds of the Republican-controlled Senate would have to vote to convict.
Meanwhile, Bonamici's resolution alleges that McMahon has committed "high crimes and misdemeanors." She also stressed that McMahon doesn't have the authority to winnow the agency through the partnerships with HHS and DOJ.
"This is not what an interagency agreement is for," Bonamici said at the Capitol on Thursday, adding "It's not to be used to shut down a department."
The senior Education Committee member said she came to Congress over a decade ago to protect public education and now she is fighting for the parents who are concerned about the department's moves to shutter.
"From the stories that I'm hearing in the community, especially from the disability rights groups: I could not stand by," she told ABC News, adding "I'm just not going to sit by and stay silent when it's [public education] being dismantled and really harmed."
Republican Education Committee Chairman Tim Walberg, a staunch supporter of McMahon's policies, condemned his Democratic colleague's efforts.
"Secretary McMahon is doing exactly what voters elected President Trump to do: rein in a bloated bureaucracy and put students, parents, and taxpayers first," Walberg said in a statement to ABC News. "Disagreeing with that agenda does not make it impeachable," Walberg added.
