PITTSBURGH — Congresswoman Summer Lee reacted to President Trump’s order to shut down the Department of Education.
She held a town hall with constituents at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Pittsburgh’s Hill District, on Thursday.
“The reality is that Donald Trump does not have the legal power to dismantle a federal agency that was authorized by an act of Congress,” she said to hundreds of attendees.
“We know that we’re a district that voted for a strong public education so that all children, irrespective of their zip code, should be educated in the wealthiest country on earth,” she went on to say.
Channel 11 was the only television station at the town hall. We asked Rep. Lee what House Democrats plan to do next.
“Just like so many of the other executive actions he’s taken, we can expect there will be litigation. We can expect there will be a legal fight ahead of us,” Lee said.
The town hall itself came weeks after Speaker Mike Johnson advised fellow Republicans to put a pause on town halls. He echoed President Trump’s opinion that “paid troublemakers” were protesting at them.
Channel 11 reached out to local Republican Congressmen Guy Reschenthaler and Mike Kelly.
Only Kelly’s office answered our inquiry. They told us Kelly typically holds 4 to 5 telephone town halls a year and they hope to do one sometime this Spring.
In the meantime, the Trump administration says the department will continue delivering “critical functions” like enforcing civil rights laws and oversight of student loans and grants.
Download the FREE WPXI News app for breaking news alerts.
Follow Channel 11 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch WPXI NOW
©2025 Cox Media Group
