Bonamici moves to impeach McMahon over Education Department dismantling

Suzanne Bonamici introduced a resolution on June 25 to impeach Education Secretary Linda McMahon, escalating a fight over the Trump administration’s effort to hollow out the U.S. Department of Education. The Oregon Democrat said McMahon has pushed the department toward closure without legal authority, and that the transfers of more than 140 programs to other agencies crossed the line from reorganization into dismantling.

Bonamici says McMahon approved a transfer on September 30, 2025 that moved programs under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act and the Higher Education Act to the Labor Department’s Employment and Training Administration. Two more rounds followed on February 20 and February 23, 2026, shifting additional responsibilities to the Department of Health and Human Services, the State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, and other agencies, including the Interior and Justice departments. Bonamici says those moves stripped the Education Department of oversight and grant-disbursing power while bypassing Congress.

The impeachment push builds on the March 20, 2025 executive order in which President Donald Trump directed McMahon to take all necessary steps to facilitate closure of the department and return authority to states and local communities. McMahon has said the administration is carrying out a broad reset and has urged Congress to make the changes permanent if they work, while acknowledging that eliminating the department outright would require an act of Congress.

In February 2026, Bonamici led 70 Democrats in demanding answers about a civil-rights complaints backlog at the department, citing more than 22,000 complaints filed in 2024, about 25,000 cases and 7,000 open investigations. The lawmakers said firing hundreds of Office for Civil Rights staff had made the backlog worse, and said the department had not resolved a racial harassment or discrimination case since Trump took office.

About 90% of students in the United States attend public schools, and students with disabilities are entitled to a free and appropriate education. Her office said the impeachment resolution has 16 named cosponsors. The move is Bonamici’s first impeachment effort against McMahon, and it lands in a House controlled by Republicans.