U.S. President Donald Trump's stated goal of closing the Department of Education comes after a long Republican-led push to chip away at the agency's funding and influence.

Maybe because its support for students is popular with Republicans as well as Democrats. And because cutting that funding would blow a big hole in the budgets of red states.

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The Education Department has long been a target of conservatives. Over many years, presidential candidates, think tank analysts and Republican lawmakers have called for its elimination. All that came to naught. Trump promised to shut it down during his campaign and has tasked Elon Musk, who leads the U.S. DOGE Service, to start cutting.

President Donald Trump described the $268 billion Department of Education as “a big con job” and “I’d like it to be closed immediately.”

If Linda McMahon is confirmed as education secretary, President Donald Trump has said he wants the former wrestling executive to “put herself out of a job.”

President Donald Trump would like the U.S. Department of Education closed "immediately," he told reporters while in the Oval Office on Wednesday.