‘You Are Failing…’: Ilhan Omar Backed the Education Secretary Into a Corner, Let Her Talk Her Way Into Trouble — Then Hit Her With the Most Brutal Accusation of the Hearing

During a House Education & Workforce Committee hearing on May 14, Rep. Ilhan Omar went toe to toe with Education Secretary Linda McMahon over a new rule capping federal loans for graduate students in fields like nursing, teaching, and social work and didn’t let her off the hook.

The Minnesota Democrat opened by laying out the stakes, pointing to an already-worsening healthcare crisis.

“In my home state of Minnesota, we’re expecting to face a shortage of 30,000 nurses in the next four years,” Omar said. “And I know that your home state of North Carolina, it is expected to see a shortage of 13,000.”

McMahon pushed back, insisting the rule wouldn’t worsen shortages because undergraduate nursing programs are unaffected.

But Omar wasn’t buying it.

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As McMahon cited two universities, UC Irvine and Purdue that had voluntarily lowered costs in response to the caps, Omar zeroed in on a glaring problem.

“And is it for business or for —” Omar pressed.

“They have lowered them right now for their business programs,” McMahon admitted.

“But we’re talking about nursing, ma’am,” Omar shot back.

McMahon’s response — “Well, I hope that they’ll look at other programs” — only seemed to deepen Omar’s frustration.

The congresswoman then delivered a pointed indictment of McMahon’s stewardship of the department.

“Your specific job is to try to make sure, as the head of the Department of Education, to make education accessible for Americans. When you create policies that make education unreachable for Americans that want that education, then you are failing at your job.”

Omar then pulled back the curtain entirely, arguing the caps weren’t designed to lower costs at all but to funnel desperate borrowers toward private lenders.

“Your caps only create a funnel through the private borrowing system,” Omar charged. “If I wanted to get a professional degree and I’m capped and I can’t borrow from a public source, then I have to go private. And that is what your administration is really trying to do — trying to help enrich others on the backs of the American people.”

McMahon stammered as she tried to deny the damning accusation, but Omar left no room for a rebuttal and yielded back.