Press Releases

Congressman Don Beyer (D-VA) issued the following statement today on Elon Musk and Donald Trump’s mass firing of thousands of employees at the U.S. Department of Education:

“Elon Musk and Donald Trump’s political purge of the Department of Education is a gross betrayal of American students. It is also illegal: Trump is plainly trying to eliminate by fiat a department established in law by Congress.

“Gutting the Department of Education would have horrific effects on American students and schools. Teachers will be fired, students will go hungry, college will be less affordable, and the worst harm will fall on students with disabilities and students of color. All this just to put a few more dollars into the pockets of billionaires – it is truly disgusting.

“Department of Education workers, many of whom I represent learned of their terminations in waves last night that included the eliminations of entire offices. These steep cuts heavily targeted hundreds of attorneys, student aid workers, and civil rights office staff. Trump and Musk’s abysmal abuse of the federal civil service is only getting worse, and the loss of these workers and their expertise will further harm the delivery of key services to the American people – in this case to our students.

"I will be joining colleagues to conduct vigorous oversight of this matter. This provides still more reason to vote against continuing the status quo of Trump-inflicted destruction of the federal government and mass firings of federal workers, if any were needed.”