By Mark Lieberman & Maya Riser-Kositsky
Education WeekIn March, most Congressional Republicans—and one Democrat—voted for a federal spending package that included billions of dollars for education funding.
But now, they’re overwhelmingly staying silent on whether the Trump administration broke the law by withholding $6.8 billion of that money, which goes to virtually every public school district.
President Donald Trump on March 15 signed into law a continuing resolution that maintained current funding levels for federal education programs in the fiscal year that starts this October. Fifty-four senators and 217 House members voted in favor of the continuing resolution.
Most of the money Congress allocated in that spending package for education was required by law to flow to states on July 1. But on June 30, the Trump administration told states that for seven grant programs that support teacher training, after-school programs, and English learners, among other things, the money wouldn’t flow as scheduled due to an “ongoing programmatic review” of past spending aiming to root out a “radical left-wing agenda.”
On July 18, the administration told states they’ll start receiving Title IV-B funding for after-school programs on July 21—effectively unfreezing $1.4 billion while leaving the remaining $5 billion frozen.
On July 14 and 15, Education Week sent emails to spokespeople for all 271 members of Congress who voted “yes” on the March spending law—268 Republicans, two Democrats, and one independent. We also sent reminder emails one to two days after the initial email. We asked the following question:
Do you believe the Trump administration has the legal authority to withhold funding for education that Congress allocated in March as part of the FY25 continuing resolution for which you voted?
Just six members—five Republicans and one Democrat—answered the request with a statement on the issue. As of Friday afternoon, spokespeople for the remaining 265—all Republicans aside from one Democrat and one independent—had either acknowledged the message without offering the Congress member’s response, or not responded at all.
The Democrat who responded said withholding the funds is illegal. None of the five Republicans who responded directly answered whether Trump freezing the funds was legal or illegal.
The U.S. Constitution gives Congress the “power of the purse.” A federal law passed in 1974 by a bipartisan coalition in Congress established a process for the White House to ask permission to make changes to spending Congress had already approved.
The lack of responses to Education Week’s inquiry shows that the Trump administration is “thumbing its nose” at lawmakers, with potentially dire consequences for funding that touches education and other sectors, said Bob Kim, executive director of the Education Law Center, a nonprofit legal and advocacy organization.
“Congress clearly needs to vigorously protect its recent education spending decisions from interference by the president,” Kim said. “But on a broader level, it needs to assert and defend its own power as an institution and co-equal branch of government.”
Hundreds of lawmakers didn’t answer about the legality of withholding federal funding
Three of the six members who answered Education Week—Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine; Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.; and Jeanne Shaheen, R-N.H.—have already urged the Trump administration to release the funds. Shaheen’s spokesperson sent a statement reaffirming that she believes withholding the funds is illegal. Spokespeople for Collins and McConnell responded by linking to their already-published letter to the administration.
Shaheen was one of 32 Democratic senators who wrote on July 10 to the federal Office of Management and Budget urging “an immediate end to the illegal withholding” of education funding. Collins and McConnell were two of the 10 Republican senatorswho wrote to OMB on July 16 calling for the Trump administration to release all the withheld funds.
One additional response to Education Week’s inquiry expressed concern about the Trump administration’s decision. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., said she plans to write a letter urging the Trump administration to release the withheld funds “immediately,” according to a statement and X post shared with Education Week by her spokesman, David Leatherwood. The statement does not, however, directly address whether Luna believes withholding the funding is legal.
One member responded by defending Trump’s approach to education funding. Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, told Education Week through a spokesperson that he supports Trump’s commitment to “fiscal responsibility in education funding,” rather than “bloated bureaucracy and teachers’ unions.”
“The President has the authority to manage federal agencies and guide their missions,” Lee wrote in a statement shared by his spokesman, Billy Gribbin.
One member—Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y.—shared a statement that accused her state’s Democratic governor, Kathy Hochul, of “withholding funds because of their bloated budget and fiscal mismanagement.”
There is no evidence that Hochul, or any U.S. governor, is withholding federal funds Congress allocated for schools. The federal Office of Management and Budget, in a July 2 statement, accused public schools in New York of using Title III funds to support organizations that advocate for illegal immigration—but OMB has offered no details or specifics about the schools or organizations in question.
The OMB and the Education Department didn’t respond to multiple requests for comment for this article by publication time.
In addition to the 32 Democratic senators, 150 House Democrats have also written to the Trump administrationcalling for all the withheld education funding to flow immediately. That letter’s lead author—Rep. Lucy McBath, D-Ga.—raised the issue July 16 on the House floor.
At least two Republican House members who voted for the continuing resolution have sent a letter to the Trump administration about the education funds.
Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., on July 9 urged the president to allow Title IV-B funds for before- and after-school programs to flow. The letter did not address whether withholding the money was legal.
Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., on July 15 asked OMB to release all the withheld education funds.
“Delays in these awards place [schools] in the impossible position of revisiting hiring and programming decisions with little time to adjust—decisions that are foundational to academic success and student support,” Bacon wrote.
Spokespeople for Lawler and Bacon didn’t answer Education Week’s inquiry about the legality of the funding freeze.
The Trump administration could, through a process laid out in federal law, propose a “rescissions package” to Congress to claw back the previously allocated education funds it doesn’t want to give out. If Congress were to reject that package or let it expire 45 days later, the administration would be legally obligated to give out the fiscal year 2025 money proposed for cuts.
Congress on Friday morning approved Trump’s first rescissions package of his second term, covering $9 billion for foreign aid and public broadcasting. As of Friday afternoon, the administration hadn’t transmitted a rescissions package to Congress that includes education funding, or indicated whether it will.
Russell Vought, Trump’s appointed director of OMB, told the Senate in June that the administration hasn’t ruled out proposing to rescind education funds.
Republican lawmakers and governors back Trump—but some education chiefs don’t
The effects of the frozen funds are likely to hit harder on average for school districts located in areas represented in Congress by Republicans, researchers at the progressive think tank New America have found.
In some cases, members of Congress are staying silent about the withholding of funds they’ve previously championed.
For instance, Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, has called herself a “strong and consistent advocate” for the Title IV-B 21st Century Community Learning Centers grant program, also known as Title IV-B. During a July 17 webinar, one of Murkowski’s staffers, Karen McCarthy, said the senator had pushed strongly for Title IV-B money to remain separate from the Title IV block grant lawmakers devised during the 2015 reauthorization of the Every Student Succeeds Act. The Title IV-A block grant—currently among the grant programs frozen by the Trump administration—funds a wide variety of academic enrichment programs and student supports.
Murkowski on July 17 criticized Vought’s assertion that the White House has the authority to ignore Congressional spending allocations. “I think he thinks that we are irrelevant,” she told The Hill. Murkowski’s spokesperson didn’t return Education Week’s requests for comment.
Meanwhile, reactions from state elected officials to the federal withholding of education funding have largely—but not entirely—fallen along party lines.
Twenty-four state attorneys general sued the Trump administration on July 14, alleging that the impoundment of education funding violated numerous federal laws and the U.S. Constitution. No Republican attorneys general joined the lawsuit. At least one—Chris Carr of Georgia—has said publicly that he won’t sue.
“Legally, whether you like or do not like the policy, the President has the authority to ensure that these federal funds are being spent lawfully,” Carr told GPB News in a statement.
Seventeen Democratic governors wrote to OMB and the Education Department on July 17 accusing the Trump administration of “a failure to fulfill the Department’s most basic responsibility to implement the law and distribute Congressionally-appropriated funding.” No Republican governors signed the letter.
Richard Woods, Georgia’s Republican elected state superintendent of education, on July 7 called for “federal funds to be released so we can ensure the success of our students.”
Idaho’s elected Republican superintendent of public instruction, Debbie Critchfield, told Idaho 6 News on July 15 that she supports reviewing the funds but worries schools will face challenges if they don’t arrive soon. “We want it to be thorough, but we also want it to be quick because our districts need to make decisions,” she said of the review.
In Washington state, elected Democratic state superintendent Chris Reykdal had sharper words for the federal executive and legislative branches.
“It is mind-boggling and disastrous to watch members of Congress, in the majority and in the minority, put up no legal fight as they get trampled by this negligent and careless Administration,” he wrote in a statement July 1. “... Our students, educators, and local communities are paying a dear price for Congress’ failure to defend its appropriations.”