--- title: Trump Suggests Many Fired Federal Workers Won't Be Missed description: A day after the Department of Education made deep cuts expected to gut the agency, Trump said many of them weren't doing much work anyway. canonical: https://time.com/7267383/donald-trump-department-education/ author: Brian Bennett article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2025-03-12T19:47:58.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-19T07:50:51.846Z article:section: Politics og:title: Trump Says Many Fired Federal Workers Were Barely Working og:description: A day after the Department of Education made deep cuts expected to gut the agency, Trump said many of them weren't doing much work anyway. og:url: https://time.com/7267383/donald-trump-department-education/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltef1c732ed665e7b3/6998c4dcf1b082baae6f1255/GettyImages-2204759784.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: President Trump Hosts Irish Taoiseach Micheal Martin At The White House og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Trump Says Many Fired Federal Workers Were Barely Working twitter:description: A day after the Department of Education made deep cuts expected to gut the agency, Trump said many of them weren't doing much work anyway. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltef1c732ed665e7b3/6998c4dcf1b082baae6f1255/GettyImages-2204759784.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Amid Education Department Layoffs, Trump Says Many of the Fired Workers 'Don’t Work at All' > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=7725b0f1-a5fa-49dd-97af-33f6839c8c1a&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: What Will Happen to Student Loans If the Department of Education Is Closed Down? [Watch (HLS stream): What Will Happen to Student Loans If the Department of Education Is Closed Down?](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/zIQEVCSo.m3u8) (3:29)  _Published 2025-03-11. President Donald Trump has not been timid about his attempts to dismantle the Department of Education. It's part of his central battle in shrinking the size of the federal government, a charge spearheaded by his Department of Government Efficiency DOGE, under the watchful eye of Elon Musk._  by [Brian Bennett](https://time.com/author/brian-bennett/)  ## Brian Bennett Bennett is a former senior White House correspondent at TIME. Mar 12, 2025 7:47 PM UTC President Donald Trump has not been timid about his attempts to dismantle the Department of Education. It's part of his central battle in shrinking the size of the federal government, a charge spearheaded by his Department of Government Efficiency \[DOGE\], under the watchful eye of Elon Musk.  by [Brian Bennett](https://time.com/author/brian-bennett/)  ## Brian Bennett Bennett is a former senior White House correspondent at TIME. Mar 12, 2025 7:47 PM UTC A day after the Department of Education announced deep cuts expected to gut the agency, President Trump was dismissive of the fired workers, initially saying he felt “very badly” before suggesting many were of little use. “Many of them don’t work at all,” Trump said, sitting in the Oval Office next to the visiting Prime Minister of Ireland, Micheál Martin. “Many of them didn’t show up to work unfortunately.” The Department of Education announced Tuesday that it was cutting 1,300 workers, its latest move toward Trump’s plan to shrivel the federal government’s role in education. The agency’s workforce, which had 4,100 workers at the end of the Biden administration, has been cut roughly in half between recent layoffs and those who have taken buyout offers. The department is also cancelling leases in buildings in Boston, Chicago, Cleveland and New York. The Education Department announced its headquarters building would be closed on Wednesday and reopen the following day. “When we cut, we want to cut the people who aren’t working,” Trump said. “We want to keep the best people.” Trump said the cuts are part of his “dream” to “move education to the states.” State officials already determine the education curriculum in public schools. The Department of Education is in charge of running the college loan programs, administering Pell grants, and dispersing some funds to states for certain education programs. The rapid downsizing at the Education Department is part of cuts across the federal government pushed by Trump and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, which has recently targeted the Social Security Administration and Department of Veterans Affairs. Trump campaigned on eliminating the Education Department entirely. In a [memo ](https://www.ed.gov/about/news/speech/secretary-mcmahon-our-departments-final-mission)to the Education Department issued March 3, the same day she was confirmed by the Senate, Education Secretary Linda McMahon wrote that Trump had “tasked us with accomplishing the elimination of bureaucratic bloat.” Her memo was titled, “Our Department’s Final Mission.” William Bennett, who served as Education Secretary under Ronald Reagan, said on Fox News Wednesday that McMahon’s cuts should not be so sweeping and should have been more targeted and specific. “It’s hard for me to believe she knows who the best people are. It may be right you can probably get by with 20% of that staff, but you got to carefully do it by going through who’s working and who’s not.” While he was President, Reagan had promised to dismantle the Department of Education, but was blocked from doing so by a House of Representatives controlled by the Democratic Party. ## Transcript [00:00] President Donald Trump has not been timid about [00:02] his desire to dismantle the Department of Education. [00:04] You go around Washington, [00:05] you see all these buildings, [00:07] the Department of Education. [00:08] We want to move education back to the States where it belongs. [00:11] But with the department gone, [00:13] what would happen to your student loans? [00:17] The Oval Office on March 6th, [00:20] Trump was asked what department or agency would handle [00:22] student loans if the Department of Education was dismantled. [00:26] Trump told reporters that he doesn't believe [00:28] student loans should be run under the Department of Education, [00:30] and will likely instead end up being run by the Treasury Department. [00:34] A small Business Administration or the Commerce Department. [00:36] Trump said he hopes, specifically for the SBA, [00:39] to take Ahold of the student loan process, [00:41] which he says Kelly Loeffler, [00:42] a Republican and the new administrator of the SBA, [00:45] has already expressed interest in. [00:47] In an appearance on Newsnation live, [00:49] new Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said that she [00:52] believed student loans and grants might be best served in another department, [00:56] echoing comments made by Trump. [00:58] Some of that funding comes by appropriations from Congress, [01:02] and that money will continue to flow into the state's Pell Grants. [01:06] Student loans might best be served in another department, [01:09] and we're looking as to where that could best be handled. [01:12] But experts doubt that the SBA would be able to handle 40 million new borrowers. [01:17] The more likely choice to take over the over $1.6 [01:20] trillion outstanding federal student loan balance would be the Treasury Department. [01:24] I think the Department of Treasury makes the most sense here. [01:28] You know, keep finances where finances lie. [01:30] It makes a lot of sense to me. [01:32] The department in and of itself, [01:33] is this compilation of different agency services that were sort [01:38] of existing under the realm of having some sort of [01:41] relationship with education and child well-being. [01:44] But again, the Department of Treasury is the place that makes the most sense. [01:47] If we're talking about, um, [01:49] removing the federal loan oversight, [01:52] um, that the Department of Education currently has. [01:55] Activists who advocate for student loan borrowers, [01:57] including the Student Borrower Protection Center, [02:00] worry that borrowers already struggling with massive wait times and uncertainty. [02:05] This will only add to the chaos. [02:07] Experts also say that rather than the Department of Education, [02:10] the biggest uncertainty with student loans lie at the courts, [02:12] with Biden Save program and [02:14] other income driven repayment plans making their way through the court system. [02:17] And many experts wonder how Trump's actions will [02:20] impact affordability promises that he ran on, [02:22] especially as student loans typically allow for [02:25] more affordable access to higher education. [02:27] America has an inequality problem, [02:30] and it's gotten worse and worse over time, [02:32] and one of the few areas or avenues through which we can [02:37] think about addressing that inequality problem has been the education system. [02:41] It's been thinking about ways to make our K through 12 education systems better at [02:46] supporting students with different types of needs that are coming [02:48] into our schools with different types of disadvantages. [02:51] And it's been the place where we've thought about creating [02:53] more opportunity through access to our higher education system. [02:56] And so if the Department of Education goes away and or if [03:00] the capacity of the Department of Education is significantly weakened. [03:04] Well, this raises serious questions as to whether or not we will [03:08] be back on pace to reach an equitable society. [03:12] Right? Like, what's the pathway to equality if we're not investing [03:17] in an agency that is committed to advancing opportunity through education? ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/7267383/donald-trump-department-education/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/7267383/donald-trump-department-education/"},"headline":"Amid Education Department Layoffs, Trump Says Many of the Fired Workers 'Don’t Work at All'","datePublished":"2025-03-12T19:47:58.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-19T07:50:51.846Z","description":"“We want to cut the people who aren’t working,” Trump said.","url":"https://time.com/7267383/donald-trump-department-education/","keywords":["Donald Trump"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltef1c732ed665e7b3/6998c4dcf1b082baae6f1255/GettyImages-2204759784.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Brian Bennett","jobTitle":"Bennett is a former senior White House correspondent at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/brian-bennett/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltef1c732ed665e7b3/6998c4dcf1b082baae6f1255/GettyImages-2204759784.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"President Trump Hosts Irish Taoiseach Micheal Martin At The White House","caption":"President Trump Hosts Irish Taoiseach Micheal Martin At The White House","creditText":"Chip Somodevilla—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/donald-trump/","name":"Donald Trump"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/7267383/donald-trump-department-education/","name":"Amid Education Department Layoffs, Trump Says Many of the Fired Workers 'Don’t Work at All'"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"What Will Happen to Student Loans If the Department of Education Is Closed Down?","description":"President Donald Trump has not been timid about his attempts to dismantle the Department of Education. 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