The Trump administration wasted $38 million of taxpayer money by paying investigators not to work while they dismantled the Department of Education and dismissed 90% of discrimination cases without a review.
It is not shocking that the Trump administration would dismiss claims that students are being discriminated against.
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The hypocrisy of an administration that claims to be eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse, wasting taxpayer money to pursue an ideological agenda, stands out.
Sen. Sanders commissioned a GAO report that found in part:
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In March 2025, after the administration attempted to lay off nearly half of OCR’s workforce, those employees were kept on paid administrative leave for nine months — costing taxpayers up to $38 million while investigators were barred from doing their jobs.
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During Trump’s 2025 government shutdown, the administration proposed a second round of layoffs, slashing OCR to just 10% of its prior capacity.
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In December, the administration reversed course and reinstated staff, ending the lawsuits, but some of the damage could not be reversed. Today, far fewer investigators are serving our students than in 2024.
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During this period, Americans filed more than 9,000 discrimination complaints with OCR — and roughly 90% were dismissed without review.
The American people would not know about the administration promoting discrimination and dismantling accountability without the efforts of members of the Senate Democratic caucus like Bernie Sanders.
Sen. Sanders said:
Every child in America should be able to get a good education no matter where they live, what their religious beliefs are or whether or not they have a disability.
Instead, the Trump administration fired half of the Education Department employees working to protect the civil rights of students and wasted as much as $38 million in taxpayer dollars by preventing investigators from doing their jobs. That is unacceptable.
Sanders brought up an important point.
Many of the students who are discriminated against have disabilities. Accommodations for disabilities are required by law, but now students who find themselves discriminated against due to their disability, race, or religion will have no recourse because Trump has dismantled the government’s investigative tools.
When people get frustrated and tell Democrats to DO SOMETHING, they don’t know or understand that Democrats and their Independent allies are using every little bit of power that they have to hold this administration accountable.
The American people need to know that this administration is enabling discrimination against students, and that is why the reports and the letters that are being written by elected Democrats and their Independent caucus members are so vital.
What do you think about the report that Sen. Sanders commissioned? Share your thoughts in the comments below.