U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon's work this week is complicated: explaining to lawmakers that the Trump administration's budget proposals for the McMahon department and the Trump administration's presidential department are committed to closing.

according to New budget summarythe government hopes to reduce funding from the education sector by 15%, while largely retaining two of the most important federal funding sources for K-12 schools: Title I, schools for low-income communities, and providing states with ideas that help support students with disabilities. It proposes to cut other procedures, including Triowhich helps low-income and first-generation college students.

McMahon testified before the House Education Committee on Wednesday and before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Tuesday. Here are the moments that stand out:

• Definition of insanity

During a Senate hearing Tuesday, Sen. Markwayne Mullin, a Republican of Oklahoma, asked McMahon: “What is the definition of insanity?”

McMahon replied: “Do the same thing over and over again and expect different results.”

Mullin’s point is based on the point of falling test scores: what the U.S. Department of Education has been doing for years, “It doesn’t work. What we’re doing doesn’t work.”

American students have been failing academically, and the education department should blame Republicans for leading arguments for supporting the department and has appeared again and again this week at a hearing with McMahon.

Critics of the argument pointed out that the department did not host schools in the country. It cannot tell the region or state Teach what or how to teach it.

In fact, at Tuesday's hearing, Alabama Republican Senator Katie Britt took it for granted that her state's outstanding academic progress in recent years, Things recorded by NPR. Another state, Louisiana, There are also significant improvements.

• Colleges may win student loans

When it comes to student loans, McMahon said colleges need to “a little skin in the game.” She advised the federal government should not be held responsible for all loans for students without compensation.

"The loan was not forgiven, nor did it go away, they were just being carried by others," she said.

Forced the University's Plan The college that pays off a portion of the student loans has not been included in the House Republican Major Reconciliation Act. Republicans also want to make it clear that when a given college course does not give students a good return on investment.

“If you want to get a student loan … you have to actually do something useful when you finish it,” said Rep. Randy Fine, a Republican of Florida.

Such a shift will require significant changes to the student loan system and federal supervision of universities.

The toughest question for Democrats to McMahon at a Senate hearing on Tuesday is about Department decides to stop payment Pay $1 billion in grants to the school district Mental health professionalsincluding counselors and social workers.

"It's a cruel thing for those kids. Have you ever thought about this impact?" Sen. Chris Murphy, a Democrat of Connecticut, told McMahon.

McMahon doubled down on the department’s explanation of the funding freeze, some of which were contaminated by ideologies that the government considers toxic.

“I think states and local areas are the best places we need to focus on these specific programs,” she added.

The government has adopted this state of trust throughout the budget: For programs that do not want to be completely cancelled, the budget requires deprivation of regulations and sending money to states through a block grant, which can be decided by state leaders.

For example, Budget will be folded Federal funds for rural schools, students who experience homelessness, literacy guidance and many other unrelated programs, bring it into a large bundle of states.

• Upward fate and other trio plans

The department's fiscal year 2026 budget will end a bunch of known federal programs Collective as a triodesigned to help low-income and first-generation students enter college. McMahon heard the support of the bipartisan for the trio and listened to the support of the salvage show.

At one point during Tuesday’s hearing, Sen. Susan Collins, a Republican of Maine, noted that she wore a Maine trio on her lapel and three employees went through the trio. Collins said she has witnessed first-hand how these plans have changed the lives of many disadvantaged Americans who might otherwise not have been able to achieve it.

When Collins asked why the administration thought the trio was not worth investing, McMahon replied that the Department of Education lacked the ability to review trioes to ensure proper use of federal funds.

Several senators expressed their support for the trio at the hearing, and at one point, New Hampshire Democrat Jeanne Shaheen told McMahon: “If accountability has a problem, let’s solve this problem…but let’s not throw the baby out.”

• Who should pay for the labor program?

The merger of the government's proposed workforce development plan has received a series of responses, ranging from mild concerns to open hostility, from legislators on both sides.

Rep. Bobby Scott, Democrat of Virginia, urged the secretary to invest in the amount of money throughout the budget: “When the dust settles, we know about 33% cuts in workforce development?”

Instead of answering this question with “yes” or “no”, McMahon continued to emphasize the need for labor development without the federal government bearing the costs.

Michigan Rep. Haley Stevens, also a Democrat, begged to his hometown: “We are competing on the world stage,” she said of Michigan’s manufacturing tools. “We need these engineering jobs, we need these apprenticeship programs.”

In a later exchange with Republican representatives, Indiana's Mark Messmer said the government was considering expanding public-private partnerships for career and technical education.

She cites a West Virginia program that is a partnership between community college and automaker Toyota. She said students there trained in the car factory and took classes at the college to develop a built-in workforce funded by employers.