WNDU: Rep. Tim Walberg speaks on abolishing Education Dept., protecting students from foreign influence

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (WNDU) - U.S. Congressman Tim Walberg of Michigan’s 5th Congressional District stopped by The WNDU Studios on Tuesday morning and covered a lot about education during an interview with our own Joshua Short.

One of the topics they discussed in detail was the recent talk surrounding abolishing the U.S. Education Department.

JOSHUA: You chair the Committee on Education & the Workforce. Can you talk about what’s happening at a federal level with education, specifically the Department of Education and how it is changing under the Trump administration right now? Can you talk about how that’s impacting things on a local level for the state of Michigan?

REP. WALBERG: So far, I would say it’s not impacting any local level issues. What’s in place right now for funding, IDEA funding for disabilities — that’s still all there.

JOSHUA: Can you say that won’t be touched whatsoever?

REP. WALBERG: No, it’s not going to be touched. That’s a commitment in law that we have to keep up.

There’s a lot of talk about abolishing the Department of Education, I certainly would support that. We, in fact, did better without a Department of Education after spending over a trillion dollars since 1979 when it was put in place by President Carter. We’ve gone downhill, literally downhill, and the most recent NAEP tests scores that have come out show us continuing to drop not only in relationship to the states in general, but to the world, and that needs to change.

Josh also asked the Republican congressman about a bill he helped introduce called the DETERRENT Act, which generally aims to protect American education and students from malicious foreign influence.

“There are malign actors that have found their way into our educational institutions — higher ed, as well as K-12,” Walberg said. “And we point to China because they are the number one right now as far as influence, both in research and development. Adjunct professors — even some of our higher education institutions have renowned — doing research and development and taking that back to China, and some have then been rewarded for all of the information they brought back and intelligence that they gathered. And we know that’s taking place now.”

The bill talks about how foreign influence on our college campuses is also a serious threat that is only growing. Walberg said this bill would specifically target China, North Korea, Iran and Russia.

To view the full interview, please visit: https://www.wndu.com/2025/02/19/rep-tim-walberg-speaks-abolishing-education-dept-protecting-students-foreign-influence/.