The Senate on Thursday teed up the final confirmation vote for Linda McMahon, President Trump’s pick to lead the Education Department.
Lawmakers voted 51-47 to move McMahon to a final vote, likely to take place next week.
While McMahon has been less controversial than other Trump Cabinet picks, Democrats have maintained opposition to her over her lack of education experience and her support of Trump’s plans to close the Department of Education.
McMahon passed her first vote out of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee last week on a party-line vote.
“President Trump believes that the bureaucracy in Washington should be abolished so that we can return education to the states, where it belongs,” she wrote to skeptical Democratic senators. “I wholeheartedly support and agree with this mission.”
McMahon acknowledges the department can’t be fully eliminated without the support of Congress but discussed moving certain programs to other federal agencies during her confirmation hearing and would not commit to continuing initiatives that were not voted on by Congress.
The Department of Education has already begun canceling millions of dollars in government contracts and placing dozens of employees on administrative leave.
McMahon will likely be fully confirmed on a party-line vote, becoming the first Cabinet head with a directive from Trump to put herself “out of a job.”
Updated at 2:52 p.m. EST
