00:00the President of the United States.
00:03♪♪
00:23Thank you very much.
00:25Thank you very much, everybody.
00:41And I'd like to start by saying that our country is doing very well.
00:45Things are, as you can see, doing quite well.
00:48Please sit down.
00:51Before we begin, I just want to announce that I signed a proclamation a few moments
00:57ago honoring the 250th anniversary of Patrick Henry's famous speech to the second Virginia
01:04Convention in which he declared very well-known, very famous words, give me liberty or give
01:11me death.
01:12Has anyone heard the phrase?
01:13I think most of you have.
01:20And moments ago, I also signed an executive order to dramatically increase production
01:24of critical minerals and rare earths.
01:27It's a big thing in this country.
01:29And as you know, we're also signing agreements in various locations to unlock rare earths
01:36and minerals and lots of other things all over the world.
01:40But in particular, Ukraine, we're doing very well with regard to Ukraine and Russia.
01:47And one of the things we are doing is signing a deal very shortly with respect to rare earths
01:52with Ukraine, which they have a tremendous value in rare earth, and we appreciate that.
01:58And we spoke yesterday with, as you know, President Putin and President Zelensky.
02:05And we would love to see that come to an end.
02:07And I think we're doing pretty well in that regard.
02:10So hopefully we could save thousands of people a week from dying.
02:14That's what it's all about.
02:15The dying, so unnecessarily.
02:17And I believe we'll get it done.
02:20We'll see what happens.
02:22But I believe we'll get it done.
02:24Today we take a very historic action that was 45 years in the making.
02:30In a few moments, I will sign an executive order to begin eliminating the Federal Department
02:36of Education once and for all.
02:41And it sounds strange, doesn't it?
02:50Department of Education, we're going to eliminate it, and everybody knows it's right.
02:55And the Democrats know it's right, and I hope they're going to be voting for it because
02:59ultimately it may come before them.
03:01But everybody knows it's right, and we have to get our children educated.
03:06We're not doing well with the world of education in this country, and we haven't for a long
03:13time.
03:14And we're pleased to be joined today by the woman who I chose because she's an extraordinary
03:20person.
03:22And hopefully she will be our last Secretary of Education, Linda McMahon.
03:27Linda.
03:29Thank you very much.
03:32That's another interesting statement.
03:36It's an interesting opening, right?
03:38But it's true, and people, it's been amazing how popular this has been.
03:43I tell people that this is what I'm doing today, and they say, oh, it's about time.
03:49Everybody says it.
03:50Republicans and Democrats have said it.
03:52They're all saying it.
03:53Also with us are some terrific people.
03:57Governor Greg Abbott.
03:58Greg, thank you very much.
04:04Governor Ron DeSantis.
04:06Thank you very much, Ron.
04:10Mike Braun.
04:11Congratulations on your victory, Mike.
04:13That was a big one.
04:16Mike DeWine.
04:18Thank you very much, Mike.
04:22Jeff Landry.
04:23Jeff, thank you very much, Jeff.
04:27Bill Lee.
04:29Governors.
04:30All governors.
04:31Brad Little.
04:32Brad, thank you very much.
04:33Where are you?
04:34Brad.
04:36Jim Piland.
04:37Thank you very much, Jim.
04:40And Kim Reynolds.
04:41These are all people very interested in education.
04:45And I even see Dan Patrick over there, my friend Dan Patrick.
04:50We're joined also by Representatives Tim Wahlberg and Virginia Foxx, Rick Allen, Michael Rooley.
05:02And again, Dan Patrick.
05:04Thank you very much, Dan.
05:05You've been a great friend of ours.
05:09And State Attorneys General Ken Paxton.
05:11Ken, I see you there.
05:14Andrew Bailey.
05:15Andrew, what a job you've done, Andrew.
05:18You have some good cases going.
05:20You've done a great job.
05:21Thank you very much.
05:22And co-founder of Moms for Liberty, Tiffany Justice.
05:26She's been a hard worker.
05:30Thank you, Tiffany.
05:33When President Carter created the Federal Education Department in 1979, it was opposed
05:39by members of his own cabinet as well as the American Federation of Teachers, the New York
05:45Times editorial board, and the famed Democrat Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan.
05:51History has proven them right, absolutely right.
05:55After 45 years, the United States spends more money on education by far than any other country
06:01and spends, likewise, by far, more money per pupil than any country, and it's not even
06:08close.
06:09But yet, we rank near the bottom of the list in terms of success.
06:13It's an amazing stat.
06:16Those are two stats you don't want.
06:17The most money spent per pupil, and you're at the bottom of the list.
06:20And that's where we are, like it or not.
06:22And we've been there for a long time.
06:25Seventy percent of eighth graders are not proficient in either reading or in math.
06:31Seventy percent.
06:32Forty percent of fourth graders lack even basic reading skills, can't read.
06:37Students in our public elementary and middle schools score worse in reading today than
06:42when the department opened by a lot.
06:47In Baltimore, 40 percent of the high schools have zero students who can do basic mathematics.
06:53Not even the very simplest of mathematics.
06:56I said, give me your definition of basic, and they're talking about like adding a few
07:01numbers together.
07:02Despite these breathtaking failures, the department's discretionary budget has exploded by 600 percent
07:10in a very short period of time and employs bureaucrats in buildings all over Washington,
07:15D.C.
07:16And as a former real estate person, I will tell you, I ride through the streets of Washington
07:21and it says Department of Education, Department of Education.
07:25I said, how do you fill those buildings?
07:27It's crazy what's happened over the years.
07:30I'm pleased to report that after offering these federal employees two generous buyout
07:36options and they were very generous and they're good people, but they were very generous.
07:42My administration has initiated a reduction in force and we're already cutting numbers
07:48that were really surprising to a lot that we were able to do it so successfully.
07:53And we've cut the number of bureaucrats in half.
07:56Fifty percent have taken office, which is great.
08:05Under the action I'm taking today, a small handful of Democrats and others that we have
08:12employed for a long time, and there are some Republicans, but not too many, I have to be
08:16honest with you.
08:19But the department's useful functions and such as they're in charge of them, Pell Grants,
08:25Title One funding, resources for children with disabilities and special needs will be
08:29preserved, fully preserved.
08:32They're all going to be.
08:33So if you look at the Pell Grants, supposed to be a very good program, Title One funding
08:38and resources for children with special disabilities and special needs, they're going to be preserved
08:45in full and redistributed to various other agencies and departments that will take very
08:52good care of them.
08:53And that's very important to Linda, I know, and it's very important to all of us.
08:57But beyond these core necessities, my administration will take all lawful steps to shut down the
09:03department.
09:04We're going to shut it down and shut it down as quickly as possible.
09:07It's doing us no good.
09:08We want to return our students to the states where just some of the governors here are
09:13so happy about this.
09:15They want education to come back to them, to come back to the states, and they're going
09:19to do a phenomenal job.
09:21You know, if you look, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, I have to tell you, I give them a lot of credit.
09:28China's a top 10.
09:30And so we can't now say that bigness is making it impossible to educate because China is
09:36very big.
09:37But you have countries that do a very good job in education.
09:41And I really believe, like some of the governors here today, from states that run very, very
09:46well, including a big state like Texas.
09:48But states that run very well are going to have education that will be as good as Norway,
09:55Denmark, Sweden, and those top Finland, those top countries that do so well with education.
10:00I think they'll have they'll do every bit as well.
10:04And what do you think about that, Governor?
10:05Do you agree?
10:06I think so.
10:07Ron, do you agree?
10:08I think so.
10:09Florida?
10:11Iowa?
10:12That's right.
10:13I really believe that they'll be as good as any of them.
10:16And then you'll have some laggards, and we'll work with them.
10:21And we can all tell you who the laggards will be right now, probably.
10:24But let's not get into that.
10:26But we'll work with them, and we're going to make them, they'll do a job.
10:30I think they'll do a job.
10:31And they'll go to sections of the state.
10:33For instance, New York, you'll have a Manhattan, and you'll have a Suffolk County, and you'll
10:38have Nassau County, and you'll have Westchester County.
10:42You'll do four or five or six of them.
10:43You have upstate New York.
10:45And those counties, I think, are going to do very well.
10:47And I think, ultimately, Manhattan should do very well.
10:50But we'll break it down into sections, and I think it'll be really, really good.
10:55And they're going to be probably the tougher ones.
10:57But I think they have a chance to do really well.
11:01But we're going to be returning education very simply back to the states where it belongs.
11:07And this is a very popular thing to do.
11:10But much more importantly, it's a common-sense thing to do.
11:13And it's going to work.
11:14Absolutely, it's going to work.
11:16And I can tell you from dealing with the governors and others in the state, they want it so badly.
11:22They want to take their children back and really teach their children individually.
11:28Probably the cost will be half, and the education will be maybe many, many times better.
11:35So we look forward to this.
11:38I want to just make one little personal statement.
11:41Teachers, to me, are among the most important people in this country.
11:45And we're going to take care of our teachers.
11:47And I don't care if they're in the union or not in the union, that doesn't matter.
11:52But we're going to take care of our teachers.
11:54And I believe the states will take actually better care of them than they are taken care
12:01of right now.
12:02And we're going to work all sorts of systems, and even merit systems.
12:05Those great teachers are going to be maybe a little bit better rewarded, or maybe that's
12:09the way it should be.
12:10But the states are going to make that decision.
12:12But we're going to love and cherish our teachers, along with our children.
12:16And they're going to work with the parents, and they're going to work with everybody else.
12:20And it's going to be an amazing thing to watch.
12:22And it's really going to be something special.
12:24And, Linda, you're presiding over something that's so important.
12:27And you're going to do a fantastic job, just like you have your whole life.
12:31I know your whole life, I've been watching you.
12:34I've been watching you for a long time.
12:35She's had nothing but success.
12:37So it's tremendous to have you.
12:40And hopefully, you won't be there too long.
12:42But we're going to find something else for you, Linda, okay?
12:45So this will conclude what we are talking about with respect to our most cherished group
12:53of people.
12:54And that's our children.
12:55We want to have our children well-educated.
12:58We want them to love going to school.
13:00We have examples of it.
13:02Look at those beautiful, bright-eyed faces.
13:05They are so smart.
13:07They're so smart.
13:10And with that, I'm going to come down, and we're going to sign a very important document.
13:16And we're going to be on our way.
13:17People have wanted to do this for many, many years, for many, many decades.
13:21And I don't know, no president ever got around to doing it.
13:24But I'm getting around to doing it.
13:26So thank you very much.
14:01I'll take this one out.
14:04I had one.
14:05I was very lucky.
14:06I signed another document that turned out to be very good for the country.
14:10And I said, let's use that same pen.
14:11I don't know.
14:12Is anybody superstitious?
14:13Ron, are you superstitious?
14:16Let's use that same pen.
14:30OK.
14:32One more time.
14:33Can you come up here?
14:34Just to say, come on up.
14:35That's good.
14:39Come on up here.
14:56Can you come up, just to say, come on up?
15:01That's very important.
15:04You're a big factor here.
15:05Thank you, sir.
15:08Thank you, everybody.
15:09Don't miss out.
15:10Log on to OneIndia.com for more updates.
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