Senate Committee Advances Ex-wrestling Ceo Linda Mcmahon As Trump's Nominee For Education Secretary

A Senate committee voted Thursday to advance Linda McMahon's nomination to serve as President Donald Trump's education secretary, bringing her closer to leading an agency the Republican president wants to shut down .

The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions voted 12-11 along party lines to send her nomination to be considered by the full Senate.

At her confirmation hearing , McMahon said she wants to "reorient" the Education Department. Since his campaign, Trump has called for the department to be abolished, but McMahon acknowledged that only Congress could shut it down completely.

"We'd like to make sure that we are presenting a plan that I think our senators could get on board with," she said.

Pressed on the fate of the agency's core initiatives, McMahon said Trump wants them to be more efficient but isn't out to defund them. She suggested certain roles could be moved to other agencies, saying the department's civil rights arm could go to the Justice Department.