11. Department of Education · Major · Needs Congress
Pass a Department of Education Reorganization Act
Printed page 330 11. Department of Education
“Congress should pass and the next President should sign a Department of Education Reorganization Act.”
What has happened
- Not started
The only Department of Education reorganization bill to reach a chamber calendar in this Congress moves the other way: S. 5046 (Kaine, with Collins and Murkowski) would prohibit transferring the Department's offices and functions to other federal agencies. The Senate HELP Committee reported it with an amendment on 2026-08-04 and it was placed on the Senate calendar.
- Not started
Bills matching the ask were introduced and went nowhere. H.R. 2456, the "Orderly Liquidation of the Department of Education Act" (Moran, 2025-03-27), is the closest match to the Mandate's "Liquidating Authority Act"; like H.R. 899, S. 1148 and S. 1402 it was referred to committee and never marked up. Introduction alone is not a step toward enactment.
Research log
What was searched, and what didn’t count as evidence
Research notes
- Secretary McMahon said on 2025-11-18 that the administration would “work with Congress to codify these reforms” (the interagency agreements); no codifying bill has been introduced on an allowlisted record as of 2026-08-26.
- The executive route the administration actually took — Executive Order 14242 and fourteen interagency agreements — is tracked under #803. This Recommendation is the legislative ask and is scored only on what Congress did.
- Action
- create
- Object
- Department of Education Reorganization Act (or Liquidating Authority Act)
- ID
- 825