GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — A Congressman from West Michigan is co-sponsoring a bill that seeks to end the U.S. Department of Education.
U.S. Representative Justin Amash is signed as a co-sponsor ofH.R. 899, whose title is “To terminate the Department of Education.” The bill was introduced Tuesday by a Congressman from Kentucky.
The bill itself is just one sentence long: “The Department of Education shall terminate on December 31, 2018.”
FOX 17 reached out to Representative Amash’s office, who gave us this statement:
“Our Constitution reserves the power over education to the states, and Rep. Amash has consistently supported putting parents and teachers back in control. While relatively little federal money for public education comes from Washington, federal bureaucracy and mandates reduce the total amount of resources available to public schools and cannot properly account for the individualized needs of students.”
Also on Tuesday, Betsy DeVos – also from West Michigan – was confirmed by the Senate to serve as President Trump’s Secretary of Education. Vice President Mike Pence cast the tie-breaking vote – a first for a vice president to vote for a cabinet choice.
Amash will be hosting a town hall meeting in Grand Rapids Thursday evening. It’ll be at City High Middle School at 1720 Plainfield Avenue NE from 6 to 7 p.m. He held a town hall meeting last month in Grand Rapids that exceeded the seating capacity of the venue, forcing several people to be turned away.
