On June 16, 2026, the Trump administration announced four Interagency Agreements that would transfer IDEA special education programs, Rehabilitation Act and WIOA vocational rehabilitation programs from the Education Department to the Department of Health and Human Services, and civil rights enforcement from ED's Office for Civil Rights to the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division. The move has drawn opposition not only from Senate Democrats but from key Senate Republicans, producing a bipartisan effort to block at least the special education portion of the transfer.
The legal argument against the transfers
Sens. Patty Murray, Tammy Baldwin, and Bernie Sanders led all Senate Democrats in a June 30, 2026 letter to Secretary McMahon demanding reversal of the agreements. The senators argued that Congress vested special education authority with the Education Department in the IDEA Improvement Act of 2004 and provided no mechanism to transfer that authority elsewhere. Their letter cites Section 512 of Division B of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2026, which prohibits funds from being transferred to any other federal department except pursuant to authority provided in an appropriations act.
The only transfer authority available to ED through annual appropriations, the senators wrote, is the ability to move one percent of discretionary funds between education appropriations accounts, with no single appropriation increased by more than three percent through any such transfer. They contend this is far narrower than what the Interagency Agreements contemplate. According to the senators' letter, the June 2026 agreements represent the first known attempt to transfer IDEA, Rehabilitation Act, and OCR functions to other agencies without congressional authorization since the Education Department was established.
A bipartisan legislative response
Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia is advancing an amendment in the Senate education committee to block special education programs from shifting to HHS. Kaine has said he is confident the measure will pass committee with at least some Republican support, with a committee vote expected this month. Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, the Republican chairman of the Senate education committee, agreed that special education should not move to HHS and struck a deal with Kaine to vote on the measure. Cassidy has argued that the Department of Labor would be a more appropriate home for the programs, characterizing Labor as a more natural fit.
Sen. Susan Collins of Maine has indicated she would likely support Kaine's legislation, stating that from the beginning of the administration she has maintained that Title I and IDEA must stay at the Education Department.
Administration officials push back
Education Department officials have disputed the characterization that HHS is absorbing IDEA. Kelly Rogers, acting head of ED's special education division, told a July 9 briefing that HHS is not taking over IDEA and that the department is not transitioning special education to HHS, saying HHS would only offer additional support. Press secretary Savannah Newhouse said special education division employees could still be physically detailed to HHS, though they would continue to report to Secretary McMahon, and that a different building or desk does not change their responsibilities.
Civil rights enforcement concerns
The Senate Democrats' letter raises a separate concern about the transfer of civil rights enforcement from ED's Office for Civil Rights to DOJ's Civil Rights Division. The letter states that DOJ's Civil Rights Division has lost an estimated 75 percent of its civil rights staff attorneys since January 2025. It also notes that OCR receives over 23,000 complaints annually, while DOJ's Civil Rights Division uses prosecutorial discretion, meaning complaints not prioritized by DOJ may never be addressed.
Disability advocates unmoved
RFK Jr.'s past public comments, including a press conference statement that autism destroys families, have left disability rights advocates uneasy about HHS taking a role in special education. A July 9 Education Department briefing aimed at reassuring disability advocates failed to do so, according to reporting on a private call with disability organizations.
Where the disagreement actually lies
The Senate disagreement over special education is specifically about the destination agency, not whether programs should move. Cassidy's preference for the Department of Labor over HHS mirrors a broader House GOP approach. House Republican proposals have contemplated shifting certain Education Department workforce and vocational programs to Labor, treating them as labor-market functions rather than health or education functions. The partisan gap among Senate Republicans is narrower than it first appears: the dispute is about where programs land, not whether they should be relocated at all.
Update - September 4, 2026
On July 30, 2026, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee voted 13–9 to advance S. 5046, bipartisan legislation sponsored by Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) with Republican co-sponsors Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) that would prohibit the Education Department from transferring the Offices of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, Elementary and Secondary Education, Postsecondary Education, and Indian Education to any other federal agency [8]. Collins and Murkowski were the only Republicans to join all 11 Democrats in support; committee chairman Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) voted against the bill, reiterating his opposition to moving special education to HHS specifically but arguing the administration should be allowed to pilot other interagency agreements [9].
Two Democratic amendments offered during the markup—one to block all Education Department transfers and one to bar the transfer of the Office for Civil Rights to the Department of Justice—failed on party-line votes, with Republicans opposed [10]. A separate amendment from Sen. Patty Murray requiring the Education Department to report the cost of each interagency agreement to Congress cleared the committee with near-unanimous support [11]. The bill now awaits a full Senate floor vote; its path forward as a standalone measure or as part of a larger package remains unclear [12].
Education Secretary Linda McMahon and other agency heads defended the interagency agreements in a letter to congressional leaders the same week, calling them "commonsense partnerships" and arguing they allow ED to preserve its legal responsibilities while drawing on partner agencies' strengths [12].