McMahon Accuses Sen. Warren of “Fearmongering”

Democratic senator Elizabeth Warren tried to hold Education Secretary Linda McMahon’s feet to the fire on social media last week by inviting the secretary “to defend her actions to destroy public education” at an upcoming forum. But McMahon snapped right back in her own post Tuesday, declining the invitation and saying Warren’s note was full of “baseless accusations.”

“I do not have faith that your forum would elicit a productive dialogue,” McMahon wrote in a letter that was then posted to X. She added that while she would be open to other meetings in the future she “will not stand by and allow false hyper-political narratives to be spread about the bold reforms this Administration is undertaking to improve postsecondary education.” 

In the original 50-second video invitation, Warren—a Massachusetts lawmaker who ran for president in 2020—said that during her short time in office, McMahon has taken “a chain saw to public education.” Warren also accused her of “taking the cop off the beat” and exposing low-income students to “scammers and bad actors” in the student loan space. (The senator was referring to a March reduction in force that cut the department’s staff nearly in half.)

But McMahon called these claims “fearmongering” and said they were “unfounded.” She said that the Federal Student Aid Office was fully functional, and in fact, its employees were hard at work managing a federal loan system that was “left in disarray” as a result of the Biden administration’s “fixation on transferring student debt to taxpayers.”

“Under the Trump Administration, FSA is performing efficiently, delivering on all statutory functions,” the secretary wrote. “Contrary to your framing that we are ‘stealing the American Dream,’ the Trump Administration is empowering students and families with information and holding institutions accountable for outcomes.”

A staff member from Warren’s office told Inside Higher Ed that the senator will move forward on setting up a meeting separate from Wednesday’s forum.