Education Secretary Linda McMahon on Wednesday sought to use the government shutdown as leverage in the Trump administration’s battle to dismantle her department.

President Donald Trump and McMahon have been working together since March to gut the Education Department while acknowledging it would take congressional action to eliminate it altogether. They believe education would be better handled by state and local leaders who are closer to students and families, contending that the federal government has systematically failed in its stated mission to fuel educational excellence in the United States.