Education Secretary Linda McMahon first announced her plans to move department staff to a smaller building in March.
A House committee voted Tuesday to move the Department of Education out of the Lyndon B. Johnson Building , its headquarters for more than 45 years, and into a smaller, privately owned facility nearby.
The Transportation and Infrastructure Committee voted 40–24 to approve the transition. A majority of Democrats on the panel opposed the move.
Education Secretary Linda McMahon first announced plans to move the department out of its current home in March, saying her staff would instead report to the building at 500 D Street SW, which previously housed the U.S. Agency for International Development . (USAID was shuttered by Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency in early 2025.) McMahon also noted that the Department of Energy and its staff would take ED’s place in the LBJ Building.
Tuesday’s committee vote is a critical step for the Trump administration in executing the proposed transition, which requires a special type of resolution, known as a prospectus; unlike standard legislation, the prospectus needs approval only from the relevant committees in each chamber—not the full House and Senate—to proceed. Now that the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee has signed off, the last barrier to relocating ED is a vote from the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, where the resolution is also likely to pass.
Still, Democrats are fiercely resisting the change of address, arguing that the Trump administration is doing more than just removing department staff from the LBJ Building, but working toward permanently dismantling the Department of Education.
“If you lose the building, you make it significantly more difficult to rebuild the department’s staffing and operations in the future,” Rep. John Garamendi, a California Democrat, said Tuesday before the vote. “This isn’t just about office space—it’s about whether we preserve the ability to rebuild the Department of Education for future generations.”
The article was updated to correct the vote total, which was not split along party lines.