Peter Welch

On Tuesday’s broadcast of CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” Sen. Peter Welch (D-VT) said that he doesn’t know if the U.S. Department of Education is a waste of money.

Home Depot co-founder Ken Langone said that “public education today is a national disgrace.”

Welch responded, “It’s a local issue that has to be — there has to be enormous involvement by parents, by local leaders.”

Langone then cut in to say, “Let’s do away with the Department of Education, if it’s a local issue. Because that’s a waste of money.”

Welch replied, “Well, I don’t know if it is or isn’t. I don’t know if that’ll help our kids read and write better.”

Langone interrupted to ask if we can do better on public education, and Welch said that we can do better.

While Welch was answering, Langone asked what the point of the federal DOE is. Welch continued talking and stated that having students not on devices and AI messing up critical thinking are some issues among many that need to be addressed to help public education.