- San Antonio Congressman Joaquin Castro says President Trump is overstepping his authority by attempting to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education. TPR’s Camille Phillips reports.
It would take an act of Congress to truly eliminate the Education Department. But the Trump administration has laid off nearly half of its employees … and begun parceling out responsibilities for student loans and special education to other agencies. Congressman Joaquin Castro says those actions are reckless and chaotic — and likely to have long lasting impact even if some relief is provided by the courts.
“When you tear something down and damage it as much as you can, even when you try to rebuild it, it's tough to rebuild it back to exactly what it was before.”
Castro says he’s also worried Texas schools could lose millions of dollars if federal education money is returned to the states without guardrails. I’m Camille Phillips in San Antonio.
- A state audit found that Texas spent just over $5 million spent on the impeachment trial of state Attorney General Ken Paxton in 2023. The Texas Newsroom’s Lucio Vasquez has more.
More than 5-point-1 million dollars. That’s how much the audit says Texas spent on Paxton’s impeachment trial. It’s nearly 1 million more than what the Texas Newsroom previously estimated after obtaining invoices shortly after the trial’s end. Nearly 90% of the expenses covered attorneys and investigators. The rest went to salaries, legislative per diems, travel and supplies. The AG was accused of abusing the power of his office — the Texas House impeached Paxton back in 2023. But after weeks of testimony during his impeachment trial, the Texas Senate moved to drop charges against Paxton. In a statement Friday, Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick called the trial a “waste of money.” He also blasted the Texas House, which accounted for the majority of the trial’s expenses . I’m Lucio Vasquez in Houston.
