Caution that Linda McMahon Will Implement Project 2025 Agenda and Other Unprecented Attacks on Students and Borrowers
March 3, 2025 | WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, the United States Senate is expected to vote on the nomination of Linda McMahon to serve as the next Secretary of Education. If confirmed, McMahon would be charged with managing a $1.6 trillion dollar student loan portfolio—the equivalent of one of the largest consumer banks in the world. In the last few days alone, the Trump Administration has already sparked unprecedented chaos and confusion for millions of working families with student debt by cutting off access to Income-Driven Repayment (IDR) options—a critical economic lifeline providing borrowers with access to more affordable monthly payments. President Trump has also made it clear that McMahon’s first order of business will be to dismantle the Department of Education which will lead to further chaos and disruption for students, borrowers, and working families. In response, the Student Borrower Protection Center issued the following statement:
Statement from Aissa Canchola Bañez, Policy Director of Student Borrower Protection Center (SBPC):
“As students, borrowers, and public education across our country face unprecedented attacks, it is shameful that the U.S. Senate is moving forward on Linda McMahon’s dangerous nomination to serve as Secretary of Education. Last month, McMahon’s testimony before the Senate HELP Committee was nothing more than two hours’ worth of gaslighting and hollow promises. McMahon had the opportunity to state clearly and unequivocally that she will protect students, borrowers, and working families from the chaos that has already ensued as a result of President Trump and Elon Musk. She did not.
“When asked whether she would abide by a directive by President Trump that breaks the law, her nonanswer spoke volumes. In the time since her confirmation hearing, she has only doubled down on her unrelenting loyalty to the President’s Project 2025 agenda. It is crystal clear that Linda McMahon’s unyielding loyalty to President Trump will guide her decision-making should she be confirmed to serve as the nation’s highest education official—and our students and communities will pay the price.
“Now more than ever, students, borrowers, and working families need an Education Secretary who will protect their interests, not the interests of private entities seeking to line their pockets off of our public education system. It is clear that Linda McMahon will not be that Education Secretary. We call on Senators to stand with students, educators, and working families across the nation and reject her nomination.”
Background
Since President Trump announced his plans to nominate Linda McMahon to serve as Secretary of Education, the SBPC has consistently sounded the alarm that McMahon’s longtime loyalty to President Trump would make her a “rubber stamp” on the most harmful aspects of the Project 2025 agenda. SBPC also submitted a letter of opposition to Linda McMahon’s nomination, which was submitted into the congressional record during the hearing.
On February 13, the Senate HELP Committee held a confirmation hearing to consider Linda McMahon to serve as Secretary of Education. The HELP Committee voted to advance her nomination for consideration by the full Senate by a vote of 12-11. During her testimony, Linda McMahon failed to place any meaningful daylight between her views and the lawless chaos that has descended upon students, educators and working families across the country as the Trump Administration works to freeze critical funding, purge the federal workforce and dismantle the U.S. Department of Education from within. Troublingly, McMahon failed to answer a question on whether she would abide by a directive by the President that violated the law—instead deflecting by saying “the president will not ask me to do anything that will break the law.”
Since her confirmation hearing, McMahon has further doubled down on her complete loyalty to President Trump’s Project 2025 agenda—responding to questions from Senators that she “wholeheartedly agrees with President Trump’s plans to abolish the Department of Education.” McMahon has also refused to commit to preserving the Department’s role in administering critical resources that working families rely on to pay for college and manage their student loan debt.
Genuine commitments to preserve the basic functions of the Department are more important than ever, at a time when families face a brutal onslaught of high costs, and when the purchasing power of financial aid is at record low levels. As collections resume, borrowers are already drowning in confusion—facing conflicting information from servicers, massive call wait times, and credit damage from missed payments. Without immediate intervention, defaulted borrowers will soon face collections, and risk losing their tax refunds, social security payments, and wages. Borrowers already struggle with massive call wait times to contact their servicers, and the likely disruptions caused by a resource-starved Department of Education without the ability or desire to ensure proper oversight of loan servicers, will result in mass chaos, more delinquencies and defaults, and worse.
Further Reading
SBPC statement on Linda McMahon’s confirmation hearing: See Here
SBPC letter to the Senate HELP Committee opposing Linda McMahon’s nomination: See Here
SBPC blog listing out 20 questions for HELP to ask Linda McMahon in her nomination hearing: 20 Questions for Linda McMahon After the Trump White House Blocks All Federal Agency Grants and Loans
SBPC blog outlining concerns with critical Trump cabinet nominees: Critical Trump Administration Nominees Should Raise Major Red Flags for Working Families with Student Debt
SBPC, Data for Progress, Groundwork Collaborative polling showing wide opposition to gutting student borrower protections: NEW POLL: Overwhelming, Bipartisan Majority Reject Cuts to the Student Loan Safety Net and Financial Aid Students and Families Rely On
Initial release of poll results showing voters oppose abolishing the U.S. Department of Education: New Poll Confirms: Trump’s Plan to Abolish Department of Education is Extremely Unpopular Among Voters
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About Student Borrower Protection Center
Student Borrower Protection Center (SBPC) is a nonprofit organization focused on eliminating the burden of student debt for millions of Americans. We engage in advocacy, policymaking, and litigation strategy to rein in industry abuses, protect borrowers’ rights, and advance racial and economic justice.
Learn more at protectborrowers.org or follow SBPC on Twitter @theSBPC.