Linda McMahon, former administrator of the US Small Enterprise Administration, speaks in the course of the America First Coverage Institute’s America First Agenda summit in Washington, D.C., US, on Monday, July 25, 2022.
Al Drago | Bloomberg | Getty Pictures
President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday named Linda McMahon, a former World Wrestling Leisure govt who served within the first Trump administration, as his choose to guide the Schooling Division.
If she is confirmed by the Senate, McMahon would oversee a division that Trump stated he deliberate to “get rid” of because it presently exists and permit every state to individually “deal with training.”
“As Secretary of Schooling, Linda will combat tirelessly to develop ‘Alternative’ to each State in America, and empower mother and father to make the most effective Schooling choices for his or her households,” Trump stated in an announcement that described McMahon as a “fierce advocate for Dad and mom’ Rights.”
McMahon is a co-chair of Trump’s presidential transition staff. She was head of the Small Enterprise Administration throughout his first presidency earlier than she stepped down from the Cupboard-level publish in 2019 to guide the pro-Trump America First Motion tremendous PAC.
Extra from NBC Information:
Earlier than she joined the primary Trump administration, McMahon served on the Connecticut State Board of Schooling in 2009, earlier than she resigned to make unsuccessful bids in 2010 and 2012 for U.S. Senate seats within the state.
CNN first reported on McMahon as Trump’s choose for training secretary.
McMahon was one among Trump’s high donors in the course of the 2024 marketing campaign — contributing greater than $20 million to the Make America Nice Once more Inc. tremendous PAC, in addition to $937,800 to his marketing campaign and affiliated joint fundraising committees.
McMahon, 76, is married to former World Wrestling Leisure CEO Vince McMahon.
The Schooling Division has a price range of $241.6 billion and consists of roughly 13,000 employees, in response to knowledge from the Workplace of Personnel Administration.
Trump has stated he plans to signal an govt order that might strip federal funding “from any college pushing crucial race concept, transgender madness, and different inappropriate racial, sexual or political content material onto the shoulders of our kids.”
McMahon has criticized variety, fairness and inclusion applications, writing in an op-ed revealed by Fox Information this yr that DEI provisions had been “irrelevant to coaching expert employees” and that such insurance policies “add prices and administrative burdens to all apprenticeship applications.”
On Tuesday, McMahon joined Trump and Elon Musk, who was named as a co-chair of a brand new “Division of Authorities Effectivity,” on the SpaceX Starship launch in Texas.
McMahon is chair of the board on the America First Coverage Institute, a conservative suppose tank she launched with different former Trump administration officers in 2021. Trump has stated he plans to appoint others affiliated with the group, together with former Rep. Doug Collins of Georgia for veteran affairs secretary and former Rep. Lee Zeldin of New York to guide the Environmental Safety Company.
McMahon can also be the most recent Cupboard choose from Trump’s transition staff. Earlier Tuesday he named Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick, who’s co-chairing his transition alongside McMahon, as his selection for commerce secretary.