(NewsNation) — A day after signing an executive order to begin dissolving the Department of Education, President Donald Trump has announced where some of the agency’s programs will end up.
The president has not yet provided a timeline for the agencies’ responsibilities to transfer.
SBA to take over student loans: Trump
The nation’s student loan portfolio will be handled by the Small Business Administration, Trump said Friday.
He called it a “pretty complicated deal, and that’s coming out of the Department of Education immediately.”
The Education Department currently runs the biggest grant program for low-income students, the Pell Grant program, along with formula funding and student loans.
Created in 1953, the SBA is “fully dedicated to small business and provides counseling, capital, and contracting expertise,” according to its official website. While it does handle multiple funding and grant programs, they are all focused on serving America’s small businesses.
It is unknown whether transferring the the Education Department’s purview to SBA will disrupt or delay services in administering loans.
This move echoes Trump’s previous promises about the programs. On Thursday, Trump said the DOE’s “useful functions such as Pell grants, Title I funding, resources for children with disabilities and special needs will be fully preserved.”
“They are going to be preserved in full and redistributed to other agencies and departments,” he said.
Trump: RFK Jr. to lead ‘special needs,’ nutrition programs
Trump on Friday said the the Health and Human Services Department, led by Robert F. Kennedy, will handle “special needs” and nutrition programs.
Kennedy’s “Make America Healthy Again” rhetoric has targeted America’s food supply, specifically food additives and poor nutrition among children.
The HHS secretary has drawn criticism from the disability community over his past linking of autism and vaccines, which he doubled down on during his Congressional confirmation hearing for the position.
NewsNation’s Elina Shirazi, Ashley N. Soriano contributed to this report.