Keith Sonderling, acting U.S. Secretary of Labor, appears in Washington, D.C., on July 16, 2026, for his confirmation hearing before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee on Capitol Hill. Sonderling has been acting secretary of labor since April 20, 2026, following the resignation of Lori Chavez-DeRemer. (Photo: Eric Lee/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Labor Department on Thursday confirmed the agency’s central role in the administration’s broader push to eliminate the Education Department.
Praised by U.S. Senate Democrats, Acting Secretary of Labor Keith Sonderling has been behind many of the interagency agreements, or IAAs, Education has signed with Labor so far, likening his agency’s functions in the transfer to “a company that merely consults and helps them move the money from these programs, but not the programs themselves.”
The agreements – also with the departments of Health and Human Services, State, Treasury, Interior and Justice – are a major part of the Trump administration’s plan to fire the 46-year-old Department of Education.
Sonderling appeared before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee in his bid to become the next secretary of labor, where he touted his extensive DOL experience.
“Few people have had the opportunity to experience this department from so many different perspectives, from the outside, in private practice, as a policy advisor, as an agency head, as an adjunct professor, as deputy secretary, as acting secretary, and now as a candidate for secretary of labor,” he said. “These experiences have prepared me to lead this department with a deep understanding of its mission, people and, most importantly, the Americans we serve.”
The Floridian took over as acting secretary in April Lori Chavez-DeRemer resigned due to allegations of misconduct.
In June, Sonderling was also nominated by the president to serve as acting director of the U.S. Office of Government Ethics, and in March 2025, the Senate confirmed him as deputy secretary of labor.
On July 23, the committee will vote on whether to accept Sonderling’s nomination to the full Senate.
“It doesn’t make sense”
During the hearing, a handful of Democrats advocated for the Trump administration’s continued dismantling of the Education Department and Labor’s role in several education programs.
“Right now, you are working with Secretary of Education (Linda) McMahon to take over Department of Education programs that will help Trump dismantle the department,” said Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., who noted that Sonderling has built “his own anti-worker past at the DOL.”
Murray noted that “it makes no sense for the DOL, an agency that specializes in supporting wage earners and job seekers, to now be tasked with taking over from the Department of Education complex educational programs designed to help preschoolers and elementary school students.”
Through numerous IAAs, the Department of Labor is taking on an expanded role in administering primary and secondary education programs; post-secondary education; and vocational, technical and adult education.
The Department for Education has stressed in fact sheets that it will maintain its statutory responsibilities and oversight of IAA programs.
In the lower chamber, package of 10 bills permanently moving several Education functions to other departments and largely mirroring many previous IAAs that dropped out of the House Education and Labor Committee on Wednesday.
Programs still run by “career experts”
Sonderling supports the administration’s efforts, stating that “it makes a lot of sense for DOL to take on more grant responsibilities and work with education.”
The nominee also emphasized that interagency agreements “do not engage in policy” but instead provide the Department of Education with a “service.”
Sen. Tammy Baldwin, a Democrat from Wisconsin, said the Trump administration’s dispersion of education programs across the federal government, including the DOL, creates a system that is “far more complicated and far less effective, particularly in states and public school districts.”
But Sonderling argued that all of these programs “still remain” within the Department of Education and are “run by career experts” in Education.
He added that “for the sake of efficiency, we moved several tranches of employees to the Frances Perkins Building (DOL headquarters), where everyone has their own offices, everyone has their own computers, they have parking, and they work outside of this building.”
Pressed by Baldwin about any evidence the candidate could provide that “transferring these programs to the Department of Labor has made things better for students, teachers and parents,” Sonderling expressed his commitment to sharing that data with the senator.
“There is a right way to do reform — come to committee and say, ‘Hey, look, this is legal, but there is a better way to do it, so let’s work on a better way to do it,’” Sen. Tim Kaine said.
“The wrong approach is to treat (the Department of Education) like a furniture store that has an end-of-sale discount and hand over the pieces willy-nilly to agencies that don’t have the experience to deal with them,” the Virginia Democrat said.
“Those are my concerns with what’s going on right now.”
