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Browse major news stories and see what officials have said.

Sep 16, 2026

Three Months After House Democrats Filed Articles Against Her, Senate Democrats Start Saying It Out Loud About the Education Secretary — Chris Van Hollen Says Linda McMahon "Should Be Removed," Angela Alsobrooks Says She Is "Unlawfully Trying to Eliminate the Department of Education," and the White House Answers That She Is "Returning Education Back to the States Where It Belongs"

In June 2026, Reps. Suzanne Bonamici (D-Ore.) and John Garamendi (D-Calif.) introduced H.Res. 1391, three articles of impeachment against Secretary of Education Linda McMahon, joined by sixteen other House Democrats. The articles accuse McMahon of illegally dismantling the Department of Education — including an interagency agreement moving enforcement of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title IX, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Age Discrimination Act to the Justice Department — and of making false statements to the Senate HELP Committee at her confirmation hearing, where she assured senators she would award the funds Congress appropriated and then canceled or withheld hundreds of grants. On September 16, 2026, the effort moved to the Senate. Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and Sen. Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.) both called publicly for McMahon’s removal, and lawmakers joined three former education secretaries — Arne Duncan, John B. King Jr. and Miguel Cardona — and the American Federation of Government Employees in requesting an inspector general investigation into the mass firings at the department and what they cost taxpayers. It makes McMahon the second Cabinet secretary facing impeachment articles in as many days, after Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) filed eight articles against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. The White House rejected the premise, with Assistant Press Secretary Liz Huston saying McMahon is carrying out the president’s mandate to return education to the states. With the House adjourned until after the November 3 midterms, no impeachment vote can occur this Congress.

“Secretary McMahon is unlawfully trying to eliminate the Department of Education, and in doing so, she’s costing taxpayers untold amounts of money and other resources.”
Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD) · Sep 16, 2026

Treasury and the IRS Propose Stripping Tax-Exempt Status From Any Private School That Considers Race — as Many as 18,000 Institutions, From Elementary Schools to Universities — and the Top Ways and Means Democrat Calls It "Racist Weaponization of the IRS"

On September 3, 2026, the Treasury Department and the IRS issued a notice of proposed rulemaking titled "Racial Nondiscrimination in Private Schools." Under the proposal, a private school that "adopts, maintains, or enforces a policy or practice that discriminates on the basis of race, color, or national or ethnic origin" would not be treated as operated exclusively for exempt purposes and would lose its federal tax exemption under section 501(c)(3). The rule reaches admissions, educational policies, scholarships and loans, athletics, and every other school-administered program, and Treasury estimates it may affect as many as 18,000 private educational institutions — elementary schools, trade schools, professional schools, colleges and universities. The rule rescinds prior IRS guidance the administration says permitted racial preferences, and permits race-neutral substitutes such as income-based or geographic criteria. Religious schools may still impose religious affiliation requirements. The proposal was scheduled for publication in the Federal Register on September 4, with comments due sixty days later, and would apply to taxable years beginning on or after May 31, 2027. Because 501(c)(3) status also governs the deductibility of donations, the rule puts at risk the charitable deduction for gifts to affected schools — a point tax practitioners flagged immediately. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent framed the rule as civil rights enforcement. IRS chief Frank Bisignano said institutions that "promote discriminatory practices" would no longer receive the benefits of exemption. Rep. Richard Neal (D-MA), ranking member of the House Ways and Means Committee, called it a racist weaponization of the tax code, and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund promised litigation.

“Schools rebranding race-based preferences as equitable, inclusive, or diversity-enhancing does not change their discriminatory nature.”
Scott Bessent (R-SC) · Sep 3, 2026

Aug 30, 2026· Updated

Trump Signs an Executive Order Creating a "U.S. Space Academy" on Par With West Point — and Colorado's Senator Answers That the Country Already Has One, "It's Called the U.S. Air Force Academy"

On August 28, 2026, at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, President Trump awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honor to the Artemis II crew and then signed an executive order establishing a U.S. Space Academy — a service academy he said would rank alongside West Point, Annapolis and the Air Force Academy, feeding graduates into the Space Force, NASA and the commercial space industry. The order does not actually create an academy. It creates a Presidential Commission on the United States Space Academy, chaired by the NASA administrator, with 120 days to recommend a governance structure, a curriculum, a location and the congressional action that would be required to stand the institution up. Trump said a site would be chosen "very shortly," and noted lawmakers were already lobbying for their own states. The reaction split along predictable lines but with an unusual geographic overlay. Rep. Brian Babin, whose Texas district includes Johnson Space Center, pitched Houston. Sen. John Hickenlooper — whose state hosts the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, the institution that already commissions Space Force officers — called the plan "duplicative, costly, and unserious." Rep. George Whitesides, the former Virgin Galactic CEO, took the proposal seriously enough to itemize what is missing from it: no congressional representation on the commission, no stated purpose distinct from existing universities, and no answer on where roughly $1 billion a year would come from. A congressionally mandated oversight body, the Air Force Academy Board of Visitors, had already recommended against a standalone institution earlier in 2026, suggesting a dedicated Space Force facility on the existing Colorado Springs campus instead.

“Another bold step by @POTUS to ensure America leads in space for generations to come. Let’s bring it to Texas!”
Brian Babin (R-TX) · Aug 30, 2026

Aug 28, 2026· Updated

The Justice Department Sues Arizona, New Mexico, Oregon and Washington Over In-State Tuition for Dreamers — Bringing Its Running Total to 21 States, and in Arizona Suing to Void a Law the Voters Passed Themselves

On Thursday, August 27, 2026, the Justice Department filed suit against Arizona, New Mexico, Oregon and Washington over state laws that let undocumented students who graduated from in-state high schools pay in-state tuition at public colleges. The four filings brought the administration's running total to 21 states sued over the same policy. The Arizona case is the most politically loaded of the four: the policy at issue, Proposition 308, was approved directly by Arizona voters in 2022. The Justice Department's complaint calls it "blatant unequal treatment favoring illegal aliens over U.S. citizens" and argues it is preempted by federal law. Arizona's attorney general answers that Prop 308 does not turn on residency at all — it turns on where a student went to high school and graduated — and that the fight is fundamentally about states' rights. Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting has estimated more than 3,600 noncitizens could qualify; at least 720 have received in-state tuition, including 432 at Arizona State University. The governors of Oregon and Washington both said they would defend their laws. Arizona's two Democratic senators issued a joint statement calling the suit an attack on people "deeply rooted in America." Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward framed the filings as enforcement of "Congress's clear prohibition on placing aliens over citizens."

“Dreamers are Americans in every way. They grew up here, went to our schools, and are contributing to communities across Arizona. Making college more expensive for young people who are deeply rooted in America does nothing to fix our broken immigration system or make our country safer.”
Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) · Aug 28, 2026

Supreme Court Rules States May Ban Transgender Girls From Girls' and Women's School Sports

On June 30, 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the consolidated cases West Virginia v. B.P.J. and Little v. Hecox that states may bar transgender girls and women from competing on girls' and women's sports teams at publicly funded schools and colleges. Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote the majority opinion, holding that determining eligibility for women's and girls' sports based on biological sex is consistent with Title IX and the Equal Protection Clause. The Court was unanimous that the West Virginia and Idaho laws do not violate Title IX, but divided 6-3 over the constitutional question. The decision upheld laws challenged by transgender students Becky Pepper-Jackson (West Virginia) and Lindsay Hecox (Idaho), handing Republican-led states a major victory in their campaign to restrict transgender participation in school sports.

“Title IX has played a vital role in expanding athletic opportunities for women and girls, and we must continue safeguarding those opportunities.”
Don Davis (D-NC) · Jul 2, 2026