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.
“Someone who’s in the process of doing that has no business being the secretary of Education. … So why is she secretary of Education? She should be removed.”