The administration, which wants to close the Education Department, hasn’t said how it would move the $1.7 trillion portfolio to a new agency. Democrats say doing so would be a “clear violation” of the law.

President Donald Trump said Friday that the U.S. Small Business Administration would handle the student loan portfolio for the slated-for-elimination Education Department, and that the Department of Health and Human Services would handle special education services and nutrition programs.

President Trump said Friday that he was tasking other government entities with core functions of the Education Department as he moves to dismantle an agency conservatives have long criticized.