Skip to content
Project 2025
Donate to support
diverse voices
Search

Latest Stories

Follow Us:
Top Stories
Cargo containers piled on each other.

The Facts on U.S.–Canada Tariffs Nearly One Year Into Trump’s Plan

U.S. Capitol building

Congress Bill Spotlight: SERVE Act, To Undo Trump Renamings

Politicians Need Yoga to Enhance Their Leadership Skills

Politicians Need Yoga to Enhance Their Leadership Skills

For 80 Years, the President’s Party Has Almost Always Lost House Seats in Midterm Elections, a Pattern That Makes the 2026 Congressional Outlook Clear

For 80 Years, the President’s Party Has Almost Always Lost House Seats in Midterm Elections, a Pattern That Makes the 2026 Congressional Outlook Clear

Linda McMahon Confirmed as Trump's Secretary of Education

News

Linda McMahon Confirmed as Trump's Secretary of Education

Linda McMahon, President Donald Trump’s nominee to be Secretary of Education, testifies during her Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee confirmation hearing in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on February 13, 2025 in Washington, DC.

(Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)
Hugo Balta
By Hugo BaltaMar 04, 2025
Hugo Balta
Hugo Balta is a journalist, educator, and communicator. Hugo is the executive editor of the Fulcrum and a board member of the Bridge Alliance Education Fund, the parent organization of The Fulcrum. He is the publisher of the Latino News Network, a trainer with the Solutions Journalism Network, and an adjunct professor teaching journalism courses.
See More Writings by author

On Monday, the Republican-controlled Senate confirmed Linda McMahon as the new U.S. Secretary of Education in a 51-45 vote along party lines.

McMahon, a former professional wrestling executive and head of the U.S. Small Business Administration during President Donald Trump's first term, takes on the role amid the administration’s stated goal of dismantling the department. While the White House has already implemented staff and program cuts, formally eliminating the department would require congressional approval, as it was established by an act of Congress in 1979.

At her confirmation hearing, McMahon sought to distance herself from Trump’s harsh rhetoric, stating that the goal is to make the Education Department "operate more efficiently" rather than defund programs.

In a statement announcing her nomination, Trump expressed confidence in McMahon’s leadership, stating that she will "empower the next generation of American students and workers and make America number one in education."

The Department of Education, one of the smallest federal agencies, primarily oversees funding for K-12 schools, including Title I for low-income students and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) for students with disabilities.

A recent NPR/PBS News/Marist poll found that 63% of respondents oppose closing the department, while 37% support the idea.

At 76, McMahon is an unconventional choice for the position. A billionaire and former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment, she has limited experience in education leadership beyond serving a year on Connecticut’s state board of education and as a longtime trustee at Sacred Heart University.

Supporters view her as a capable executive poised to reform what they see as an ineffective agency, while critics argue she lacks the necessary qualifications and warn that her budget cuts could negatively impact students nationwide.

Hugo Balta is the executive editor of the Fulcrum and a board member of the Bridge Alliance Education Fund, the parent organization of The Fulcrum. He is the publisher of the Latino News Network.

SUGGESTION: Project 2025: Department of Education

Students raising their hands in a classroomThe New York Times reports that Elon Musk’s cost-cutting initiative announced $900 million of cuts at the Education Department, apparently aimed at hobbling the Institute of Education Sciences—the department’s research arm. dolgachov/Getty Images


Latest news

American flag
Democracy

From the Ashes, What Would A ‘Re-Founding’ of American Democracy Look Like?

NRF Moves to Defend Utah’s Fair Map Against Gerrymandering Lawsuit
Governance & Legislation

NRF Moves to Defend Utah’s Fair Map Against Gerrymandering Lawsuit

Maxwell Is the Prosecutable Person
Justice

Maxwell Is the Prosecutable Person

Read More

A Constitutional Provision We Ignored for 150 Years

Voter registration in Wisconsin

Michael Newman

A Constitutional Provision We Ignored for 150 Years

Imagine there was a way to discourage states from passing photo voter ID laws, restricting early voting, purging voter registration rolls, or otherwise suppressing voter turnout. What if any state that did so risked losing seats in the House of Representatives?

Surprisingly, this is not merely an idle fantasy of voting rights activists, but an actual plan envisioned in Section 2 of the 14th Amendment, which was ratified in 1868 – but never enforced.

Keep ReadingShow less
People wearing vests with "ICE" and "Police" on the back.

The latest shutdown deal kept government open while exposing Congress’s reliance on procedural oversight rather than structural limits on ICE.

Getty Images, Douglas Rissing

A Shutdown Averted, and a Narrow Window Into Congress’s ICE Dilemma

Congress’s latest shutdown scare ended the way these episodes usually do: with a stopgap deal, a sigh of relief, and little sense that the underlying conflict had been resolved. But buried inside the agreement was a revealing maneuver. While most of the federal government received longer-term funding, the Department of Homeland Security, and especially Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), was given only a short-term extension. That asymmetry was deliberate. It preserved leverage over one of the most controversial federal agencies without triggering a prolonged shutdown, while also exposing the narrow terrain on which Congress is still willing to confront executive power. As with so many recent budget deals, the decision emerged less from open debate than from late-stage negotiations compressed into the final hours before the deadline.

How the Deal Was Framed

Democrats used the funding deadline to force a conversation about ICE’s enforcement practices, but they were careful about how that conversation was structured. Rather than reopening the far more combustible debate over immigration levels, deportation priorities, or statutory authority, they framed the dispute as one about law-enforcement standards, specifically transparency, accountability, and oversight.

Keep ReadingShow less
Pier C Park waterfront walkway and in the background the One World Trade Center on the left and the Erie-Lackawanna Railroad and Ferry Terminal Clock Tower on the right

View of the Pier C Park waterfront walkway and in the background the One World Trade Center on the left and the Erie-Lackawanna Railroad and Ferry Terminal Clock Tower on the right

Getty Images, Philippe Debled

The City Where Traffic Fatalities Vanished

A U.S. city of 60,000 people would typically see around six to eight traffic fatalities every year. But Hoboken, New Jersey? They haven’t had a single fatal crash for nine years — since January 17, 2017, to be exact.

Campaigns for seatbelts, lower speed limits and sober driving have brought national death tolls from car crashes down from a peak in the first half of the 20th century. However, many still assume some traffic deaths as an unavoidable cost of car culture.

Keep ReadingShow less
Congress Has Forgotten Its Oath — and the Nation Is Paying the Price

US Capitol

Congress Has Forgotten Its Oath — and the Nation Is Paying the Price

What has happened to the U.S. Congress? Once the anchor of American democracy, it now delivers chaos and a record of inaction that leaves millions of Americans vulnerable. A branch designed to defend the Constitution has instead drifted into paralysis — and the nation is paying the price. It must break its silence and reassert its constitutional role.

The Constitution created three coequal branches — legislative, executive, and judicial — each designed to balance and restrain the others. The Framers placed Congress first in Article I (U.S. Constitution) because they believed the people’s representatives should hold the greatest responsibility: to write laws, control spending, conduct oversight, and ensure that no president or agency escapes accountability. Congress was meant to be the branch closest to the people — the one that listens, deliberates, and acts on behalf of the nation.

Keep ReadingShow less
© Copyright 2026