McMahon Faces Angry House Democrats

Democrats also pressed McMahon to explain why her department has frozen or canceled millions in federal grants and contracts.

Rep. Suzanne Bonamici, an Oregon Democrat, for example, reminded McMahon that during her Senate confirmation hearing in February, she promised to disseminate any funds appropriated by Congress regardless of any directives from the president to do otherwise.

Since then, however, the Department of Education has cut off funding to some grant programs that it deems related to DEI, gender identity or in response to accusations that colleges didn’t sufficiently address campus antisemitism. Recently, the department canceled three TRIO programs, saying they didn’t further “merit, fairness, and excellence in education.”

“You stood by as Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency froze or terminated more than a billion dollars in congressionally directed federal grants,” Bonamici said. “So, Secretary McMahon, were you not being truthful when you testified in the Senate?”

McMahon questioned which grants Bonamici was talking about and said she had also promised to “abide by the law.”