Rep. Erin Houchin, R-Ind., is all about returning the responsibility of education to the states and she told Newsmax on Thursday that Secretary of Education nominee Linda McMahon is just the "right person" for the job.
"President Trump is an unconventional president," Houchin told "National Report." "That's what the American people asked for and he's delivering some unconventional nominees like Linda McMahon, who Democrats have questioned her qualifications, but she helped build the WWE from the ground up. She's a successful businesswoman.
"Look, if we're going to dismantle the Department of Education, we're going to do it in a way that is best for states and parents and students and Linda McMahon is the exact right person to lead that charge.
"The Congress created the Department of Education under President Carter," she said. "[Former President] Ronald Reagan said we don't really have a place for a federal Department of Education; the best government is closest to the people. The federal government should only do what is required of the federal government. Everything else should be in the responsibility of the states.
"So, I've said before, I think that education should be a state-led decision. We don't really need a federal bureaucracy at the Department of Education."
A group of angry House Democrats were blocked last week from entering the Department of Education's headquarters and Houchin said what her Democrat colleagues are really concerned about is the GOP is "breaking the wheel."
"We are actually doing the things that Donald Trump wanted to do in his first term," she said. "We're getting to that work. It is refreshing on Capitol Hill. It's as if there's a sigh of relief or a breath of fresh air that's entered this city for all of the things that President Trump has been able to do just in two weeks.
"This conversation about the Department of Education, we've been having it for years. Donald Trump is just the president to get it done."
Would she welcome a review of the Education Department's funding plans by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)?
"Absolutely," Houchin said.
"I welcome DOGE in every agency that we have to find waste, fraud and abuse, and they're finding it at a rapid clip," she said. "And again, under [former President] Joe Biden, some of these decisions by unelected bureaucrats were being made in the dark. [DOGE chief] Elon Musk and Donald Trump are doing it in broad daylight. They are fully transparent about the decisions that they're making and what they're finding.
"The American people have been starved of information for the last several years, so I welcome the internal audit, if you will, of everything in the federal government, because we're spending way too much money."
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Nicole Weatherholtz ✉
Nicole Weatherholtz, a Newsmax general assignment reporter covers news, politics, and culture. She is a National Newspaper Association award-winning journalist.
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