Linda McMahon's Senate confirmation hearing on Thursday was marked by disruptive protesters, debate over diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs, discussion on the participation of biological men in women's sports and scrutiny over spending cuts proposed by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) led by tech billionaire Elon Musk.
Several protesters disrupted and were removed from the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee hearing, with one individual shouting, "Protect trans kids, protect immigrant students, protect our schools!"
Addressing the disruptions, Sen. Jim Banks, R-Ind., complained about the "outburst of some of the protesters in the room," prompting a blue state Democrat to speak out in their defense.
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"A number of them have told us that they're … teachers. Can you imagine them teaching these people, teaching our kids in classrooms across America, and they come here and act like children with outbursts?" Banks said.
Newly elected Sen. Angela Alsobrooks, D-Md., hit back at the Republican senator, saying that the protesters are "exactly the kind of people who we want teaching our children."
In January, Trump declared that legal protections under Title IX, the 1972 federal law prohibiting sex-based discrimination for recipients of federal education funding, would be based on the basis of biological sex, not gender identity, in K-12 schools and higher-learning institutions.
Regarding Trump's reversal of the Biden administration's regulations, McMahon said she is "happy" to see the law "back to what Title IX was originally established to do, and that was to protect social discrimination."
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"And women should feel safe in their locker rooms. They should feel safe in their spaces. They shouldn't have to be exposed to men undressing in front of them," she said.
The Trump nominee also said that if confirmed, she will "make sure the law is enforced" on campuses that try to defy the law.
McMahon faced further questioning on the impact of DEI programs during her Senate confirmation hearing. She criticized the programs, claiming that though they were intended to promote diversity, they have instead contributed to further dividing America's kids rather than being inclusive.
"DEI has been – I think has been, it’s a program that’s tough," McMahon said. "It was put in place ostensibly for more diversity, for equity and inclusion. And I think what we’re seeing is it is having an opposite effect. We are getting back to more segregating of our schools instead of having more inclusion in our schools."
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She pointed to instances where DEI programs led to separate graduation ceremonies for Black and Hispanic students, arguing that such measures went against the goal of inclusion: "When their DEI programs say that Black students need separate graduation ceremonies or Hispanics need separate ceremonies, we are not achieving what we wanted to achieve with inclusion," she added.
Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., countered with an example of Department of Defense schools that had canceled programming for Black History Month.
He asked, "So if a school in Connecticut celebrates Martin Luther King Day and has a series of events and programming teaching about Black history, are they in violation of a policy that says schools should stop running DEI programs?"
McMahon disagreed, saying that events like Black History Month celebrations should be celebrated across all schools.
"In my view, that is clearly not the case," she said. "That celebration of Martin Luther King Day in Black History Month should be celebrated throughout all of our schools. I believe that, you know, Martin Luther King was one of the strongest proponents of making sure that we look at all of our populations when he said that he would hope that his children wouldn’t be judged by the color of their skin, but the content of their character."
Musk's government spending cuts also sparked debate, with Democratic lawmakers pressing McMahon on whether she supports the dramatic cuts made by DOGE.
"I believe the American people spoke loudly in the election last November to say that they want to look at waste, fraud and abuse in our government," said McMahon, the former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment.
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Pressed by Democrats, including Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia, if she would follow through with cuts suggested by the "DOGE brothers," McMahon said she can be counted on to follow congressional statute "because that's the law."
Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., also asked if McMahon believes DOGE should have access to "private student data," suggesting that their probes "should frighten everyone."
"It is my understanding that those employees have been onboarded as employees of the Department of Education, and therefore, they operate under the restraints of utilizing access of information," McMahon said.
"That's not my understanding," Murray shot back.
"That's my understanding," McMahon responded.
Murray said it was "deeply disturbing" that DOGE staffers aren't "held accountable" and that it should "frighten everyone" if they have access to students' private information.
McMahon's confirmation vote in the Senate HELP Committee is scheduled for Feb. 20.
