GOP senator says he’s working with Trump on bill to abolish Education Department

FIRST ON FOX: Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., said he has been in discussions with President Donald Trump’s White House to revive his bill to dismantle the Department of Education, which would codify the latest executive order. 

In the lead up to Trump’s much-anticipated executive order to abolish the department, his administration had been in talks with a longtime advocate of doing so: Rounds. 

His office shared with Fox News Digital that the senator and Trump’s White House have talked about bringing back his bill to abolish the department and pushing for it. 

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Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., left, debuted a bill that would dissolve the Department of Education. (Reuters/ Istock)

Rounds is planning to re-introduce the bill now that Trump has signed the executive order. 

“The federal BUREAUCRACY of Education has never educated a single student,” the senator told Fox News Digital in a statement. “It’s time to shut it down. Today’s news is a step in the right direction. Congress should follow the executive branch’s lead and act accordingly. I am working on legislation that would return education decisions to states and local school districts while maintaining important programs like special education and Title I. We are discussing this legislation with Secretary McMahon, and we believe there is a very good path forward.”

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President Donald Trump holds an executive order after signing it in the East Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., on Thursday. (Mandel Ngan)

He introduced the “Returning Education to Our States Act” in the last Congress, but it never came to the floor, which was controlled by Democrats. 

Rounds’ bill would abolish the Department of Education and charge various other departments with certain responsibilities and programs that are currently administered by it. 

Trump notably claimed on the 2024 campaign trail, “One thing I’ll be doing very early in the administration is closing up the Department of Education in Washington, D.C., and sending all education and education work it needs back to the states.” 

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Morning sun lights the front of the Department of Education building in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 4. (Reuters/Kevin Lamarque)

He previewed his plans to do so for months prior to signing the Thursday executive order. 

During the signing ceremony, Trump explained, “The department’s useful functions such as… Pell Grants, Title I funding resources for children with disabilities and special needs will be preserved, fully preserved.”  

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President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., on March 7. (Chris Kleponis/CNP/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“They’re going to be preserved in full and redistributed to various other agencies and departments that will take very good care of them,” the president continued.

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“But beyond these core necessities, my administration will take all lawful steps to shut down the department.”

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House but did not immediately receive a response.