The Trump administration has insisted its controversial education cuts are saving “millions of dollars” after it was reported that Linda McMahon, secretary of education, is planning to spend roughly $43,000 on new furniture for her office.

McMahon’s office told Congress that the secretary’s current furniture was worn out and “cannot be configurationally or aesthetically integrated into the agency’s new office space”, according to non-public records seen by the New York Times.

In March, McMahon – who is seeking to permanently shutter the Department of Education – announced the department would relocate from its headquarters in the Lyndon B Johnson building to a smaller building in downtown Washington DC, which housed the US Agency for International Development (USAID) before the Trump administration closed it down.

McMahon claimed the relocation would save taxpayers $4.8m annually. Now, the education secretary’s office needs new furniture for the office, including a new desk, conference table, chairs and other items, an unnamed senior official told the New York Times.

The new furnishings are expected to cost $43,278.64.

Savannah Newhouse, the education department’s press secretary, claimed in a statement the administration was “saving taxpayers millions of dollars” through its education cuts, adding: “Believe it or not, just like in the private sector, new federal offices need places to sit, write, and meet.”

Though McMahon is reportedly planning to furnish her new office at the department, her overall goal is to diminish staffing and remove responsibilities that her department oversees, in effect shutting it down.

Shortly after returning to office in 2025, Donald Trump signed an executive order directing McMahon, a former executive at World Wrestling Entertainment turned cabinet member, to close the Department of Education.

The Department of Education was established by Congress and can only be dissolved at the direction of Congress, but the Republican-controlled chambers have not moved to do so. But the administration has taken steps to reduce the department’s power. So far, the administration has nearly halved the department’s staffing through workforce reductions and moved department-specific responsibilities to other agencies through “interagency agreements”.

Among those, special education services have been moved to the Department of Health and Human Services and civil rights enforcement efforts have been moved to the justice department.

Trump and McMahon have insisted that effectively shuttering the Department of Education will give states more authority over education, despite states already controlling most of their education policies, and eliminate unnecessary bureaucratic processes.