(NewsNation) — Many topics were heavily discussed during the 2024 election, immigration and inflation perhaps being the most prominent.
However, other issues weren’t looked at as closely.
Bob Cusack, editor-in-chief of NewsNation partner The Hill, says one of these was the federal debt, even though it was a “giveaway” on both sides.
“We’re 36 trillion now — 25 years ago, we had a surplus,” Cusack said. “I mean, this is unbelievable.”
Others on a NewsNation panel said education was ignored this year.
NewsNation contributor Kurt Bardella said politicians should always talk about the issue that affects the most people during elections.
“There’s always the economy, but nothing is more personal, I think, especially to parents, than the issue of education,” Bardella said. To him as a parent, Bardella said, it’s “mind-numbing” that education wasn’t really talked more about during the election cycle.
Something that has garnered a lot of attention when it comes to education is President-elect Donald Trump’s promise to eliminate the Department of Education.
Cheyanne Daniels, The Hill’s race and politics reporter, said civil rights advocates are “terrified” by what that could mean, particularly for Black and brown students.
“(It’s) definitely going to be something I think that needs to be discussed, probably sooner rather than later,” Daniels said.
However, Ashley Davis, a former White House official for then-president George W. Bush, says “there’s no way” dismantling the Department of Education would get across the finish line in the House and Senate.