Last week, the House Education and the Workforce Committee held a markup to amend and vote on the “Less Bureaucracy, Better Education” legislative package. The package consists of 10 bills to permanently move certain K-12, higher education, adult education, and career and technical education programs from the Department of Education (ED) to other agencies. The bill package aims to make permanent some of the Interagency Agreements (IAA) that have been announced and have begun to be implemented over the last year. In addition to moving programs, the bills state that those moves cannot be used to increase the total number of full-time staff in the affected agencies beyond the staffing levels in place when the bill becomes law. Chairman Tim Walberg (R-MI) characterized the bills as the “first step” of closing ED. Lawmakers clashed on party lines about the bills and their underlying purpose, with Republicans asserting that shuttering ED is necessary because educational attainment has not improved since the Department was established, the move will lessen bureaucracy and will “return education to the states.” Democrats countered by asserting that the bills provide cover to ED, as the IAAs conflict with education statutes and other federal laws. Over the course of six hours, the Republican bills prevailed and Democratic amendments failed as Committee members disagreed on everything from fundamental principles of the IAAs to the necessary staffing levels required to implement education programs and more. The only Member to cross party lines was Rep. Kevin Kiley (I-CA), who sided with Democrats and opposed moving K-12 education programs to the Department of Labor, and, on a preemptive amendment offered by Rep. John Mannion (D-NY) to prevent the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) from being transferred to any other agency. However, Kiley’s opposition wasn’t enough to give Democrats a win. Note, neither the planned move of OSERS to Health and Human Services, nor the move of the Office for Civil Rights to Justice were part of the 10-bill package. Ultimately, all 10 bills were approved with Republican-only support. Next steps for the package in the House remain unclear. When asked by the press about the viability of the bills in the Senate, Senate Appropriations Vice Chairman Patty Murray (D-WA) said, “So let me be crystal clear: under NO circumstances will I let these bills pass the Senate.”