Kentucky representative Thomas Massie, a Republican, reintroduced a bill to terminate the Department of Education.
The single-sentence bill reads: "The Department of Education shall terminate on December 31, 2022."
"There is no Constitutional authority for this federal bureaucracy to exist," the Kentucky representative wrote.
Massie revealed Georgia representative Mike Collins had cosponsored the bill thanking him in a follow up post. Thank you to @RepMikeCollins for cosponsoring my bill to eliminate the Federal Department of Education (HR 899).
The bill is one sentence:
“The Department of Education shall terminate on December 31, 2023.”
— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) February 14, 2023
The Kentucky representative originally introduced H.R. 899 in February 2017, shortly before former Trump administration Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos was scheduled to be confirmed.
"Neither Congress nor the President, through his appointees, has the constitutional authority to dictate how and what our children must learn," Massie said in a press release at the time.
"Unelected bureaucrats in Washington, D.C. should not be in charge of our children’s intellectual and moral development," he continued. "States and local communities are best positioned to shape curricula that meet the needs of their students. Schools should be accountable. Parents have the right to choose the most appropriate educational opportunity for their children, including home school, public school, or private school."
Massie reiterated his previous remarks in a 2021 press release for the bill’s reintroduction saying, "states and local communities are best positioned to shape curricula that meet the needs of their students. Schools should be accountable. Parents have the right to choose the most appropriate educational opportunity for their children, including home school, public school, or private school."
Supporters of Massie's efforts commended the bill's reintroduction but noted the legislation's futility due to a divided Congress.
Massie's efforts to abolish the Department of Education mirror the Kentucky representative's January legislation seeking to audit the Federal Reserve which had been previously introduced in 2015.
"This bill is authorized by Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution, which gives Congress the power 'to coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures [and] to provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the securities and current coin of the United States,'" reads Massie’s Federal Reserve Transparency Act (HR 24).
"We must audit the Fed and restore transparency and fiscal sanity to our nation’s checkbook!" Kentucky Senator Rand Paul said of the legislation.
Cosponsors of the bill's 2021 reintroduction included representative Andy Biggs of Arizona; Lauren Boebert of Colorado; Tim Burchett of Tennessee; Jeff Duncan and Ralph Norman of South Carolina; Matt Gaetz of Florida; Jody Hice of Georgia; and Chip Roy of Texas.
Biggs, Boebert and Roy are returning cosponsors of Massie's bill in the 118th Congress. North Carolina representative Dan Bishop is also cosponsoring the bill, according to the Daily Caller.
