A GOP lawmaker wrote a one-sentence bill to abolish the Department of Education. His reasoning doesn't address student loans, grants, or any of the major things the department does.

• Rep. Thomas Massie introduced a one-sentence bill to abolish the Department of Education.
• His reasoning did not address what would happen to student-loan programs and grants, among other things.
• The CBO previously said that getting rid of an agency would only cut spending if its programs were eliminated, as well.

It'll probably take more than one sentence to get rid of a federal agency — but one Republican lawmaker is trying that route anyway.

Last week, Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie introduced a bill to abolish the Education Department, and it's a short, one-sentence read: "The Department of Education shall terminate on December 31, 2022."

When Insider asked Massie how abolishing the department would impact programs and laws that specifically rely on the department, he said that "unelected bureaucrats in Washington, D.C. should not be in charge of our children's intellectual and moral development."

"States and local communities are best positioned to shape curricula that meet the needs of their students. Schools should be accountable," he said. "Parents have the right to choose the most appropriate educational opportunity for their children, including home school, public school, or private school."

When Insider followed up regarding the impact eliminating the department would have on Pell Grants, student loans, and other financial aid operations, Massie's office did not respond.

Congress recently approved a $1.7 trillion budget for the government, including $79.6 billion for the Education Department. Of that funding, $45 billion is going to K-12 programs, with the majority allocated to grants for low-income neighborhoods and special-education programs, and about $30 billion is going to higher education and federal student aid funding, including loans and Pell Grants.

So if the department were to be eliminated, those programs would either be gone — or transferred to a new agency, which would preclude the budgetary savings that Republicans are hoping for. 

The Congressional Budget Office wrote in a 2012 report that getting rid of a department "could result in considerable budgetary savings to the federal government if some or all of the programs operated by that department were also terminated."

"In deciding whether to eliminate one or more of the current departments and whether to terminate, move, or reorganize its programs and activities, lawmakers would confront a variety of questions about the appropriate role of the federal government," the report said. "In particular, lawmakers would face decisions about whether the activities of a department should be carried out by the public sector at all, and if so, whether the federal government was the most effective level of government to conduct them."

Still, Massie isn't the only Republican who has spearheaded such an effort  — in 2015, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, who was running for president at the time, said during a town hall that "I honestly think we don't need a Department of Education," and he said that overseeing the student-loan program could be transferred to other agencies. Former President Donald Trump also said in 2015 that he'd consider getting rid of the department, saying it could be cut "way, way, way down."

Republican efforts against the department go back to just after its conception. Massie's press release noted that one year after the department was created in 1980, then-President Ronald Reagan launched his effort to eliminate the Energy and Education Departments, saying at the time that "education is the principal responsibility of local school systems, teachers, parents, citizen boards, and State governments."

"By eliminating the Department of Education less than 2 years after it was created, we cannot only reduce the budget but ensure that local needs and preferences, rather than the wishes of Washington, determine the education of our children," Reagan said.

Reagan's efforts were clearly unsuccessful, given both of those agencies are operating at full capacity today, and millions of Americans are now relying on the Education Department's Federal Student Aid Office to facilitate the disbursement of federal student loans and grants. 

As Politico previously reported, though, getting rid of an agency is "nearly impossible" — so if Massie's bill progresses, it's up to him to confront the challenges of killing, or reallocating, billions of dollars in programs.