U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) called for the federal Education Department to be abolished after the agency’s Office of Civil Rights notified five states it is opening an inquiry into its bans of student mask mandates.
“It’s simply unacceptable,” Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said in a statement, according to the AP, “that state leaders are putting politics over the health and education of the students they took an oath to serve.”
He promised his agency “will fight to protect every student’s right to access in-person learning safely.”
Earlier this year Gaetz was among many Republicans railing against “cancel culture.”
“Silicon Valley can’t cancel this movement, or this rally, or this congressman,” he told supporters in late May, as The Washington Post reported.
Congressman Gaetz, himself under federal investigation for allegedly having a sexual relationship with a 17-year old girl and for possible sex trafficking, lashed out, and was quickly mocked over his call to cancel the Dept. of Education: