U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon said during a House Education and Workforce Committee hearing on Wednesday that risk-sharing and workforce Pell are among her top higher education policy priorities, as related in H.R. 1, aka the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
During the three-hour-plus hearing, McMahon didn’t provide many new details on the Trump administration’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2026 or on her plans to revamp the department. But, when asked by committee chair Tim Walberg (R-Michigan) what are the three most important higher education policies included in H.R. 1 — the budget reconciliation bill the House passed last month — she noted workforce Pell and wanting colleges and universities to have more “skin in the game” when it comes to students taking loans to attend college.
McMahon explained that, if colleges have to repay some student loans in cases where students can’t find jobs after completion, higher education institutions would work more to ensure their courses and degrees provide pathways to good-paying jobs. With good jobs, students could repay their loans, she added.
“If they’re on the hook for part of that money, they [colleges] are not going to want to pay it if that student is not successful,” McMahon said.
Addressing workforce Pell
In her support of workforce Pell — which would extend Pell Grant eligibility to quality, short-term workforce education programs — McMahon noted that such “bold reforms” would help to fill the more than 8 million open jobs in the U.S.
“We are not training our skilled workforce to fill these openings,” she said.
While several Republicans on the panel expressed support for workforce Pell, Rep. Glenn Grothman (R-Wisconsin) indicated that he would prefer that companies foot a greater portion of the cost for workforce training. He said businesses desperately seeking workers have covered training costs, noting a trucking company in Wisconsin.
Grothman also asked McMahon to consider broader public distribution of data showing the financial benefits of pursuing a career in the trades.
A lot of ground covered
The hearing focused on the administration’s budget proposal, touching on a wide range of issues, from special education funding and DEI programs, to anti-semitism on campuses and career and technical education, as well as the potential effects of a significantly reduced Education Department (ED) workforce. However, there was little discussion about the president’s proposed cuts and changes to the Pell Grant program.
There also was little mention of community colleges, though the secretary did note public two-year colleges among the options to four-year degrees. She did mention a Toyota workforce development program at a West Virginia community college that feeds into the local workforce pipeline.
“Those are the kinds of things we want to see continuing to happen,” she said.
Related article: Contact your senators to protect Pell
Democrats on the committee expressed frustration with McMahon’s lack of answers, accusing her of circumventing their questions. She would frequently reply to queries from both sides of the aisle that she would get back to them with details.
Although it was mainly Democrats pitching questions about proposed cuts, some were from Republicans, too. Rep. Glenn “GT” Thompson (R-Pennsylvania), a long-time champion of career and technical education (CTE), said he was concerned with ED’s cancellation of CTE evaluations under the Perkins program. That data was needed to help inform Congress on improvements for the Perkins VI reauthorization.
McMahon responded that the data is being collected but in a different way. Thompson replied that Perkins has collected nearly five years’ worth of data, and that consistency in data collection is important.
Earlier in the hearing, Rep. Joe Courtney (D-Connecticut) asked about ED’s plans to move its programs to other federal agencies as part of its efforts to close the department. He noted whether ED’s adult education program would shift to the U.S. Department of Labor.
McMahon didn’t answer the question directly, but said ED is discussing with the departments of Labor and Commerce and other federal agencies regarding where some programs may go.
