The U.S. Senate, after a nightlong Democratic talk-a-thon, confirmed Betsy DeVos as U.S. Secretary of Education, with Vice President Mike Pence brought in to cast the tie-breaking vote.
The lawmakers deadlocked 50-50 on the billionaire Republican mega-donor and champion of charter schools and school vouchers. Two Republicans, Sens. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Susan Collins, R-Maine, joined 48 Democrats in opposing the nomination.
Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., architect of many a bipartisan compromise in the Senate, led the opposition to DeVos, arguing that the nominee would take badly needed resources away from public schools, and was totally misinformed on such subjects as students with disabilities.
“For the vast majority of people across the country, public education isn’t just another issue, it’s different,” Murray told her colleagues. “We believe that a commitment to strong public schools is part of America’s core.
“The idea that every student, in every community, should have the opportunities that strong public schools offer. This is a notion that is embedded in our values. It’s who we are. It’s in our blood.”
Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., also voted against the nomination. Murray and Cantwell stood together at the well of the Senate as the votes were cast.
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The Republicans held up confirmation of Attorney General-designate Jeff Sessions — equally controversial and opposed by civil rights groups — so the ultraconservative Alabama senator could cast his vote for the DeVos nomination.
The DeVos nomination generated nationwide grassroots oppositions. The opposition was fueled by DeVos’ unsteady performance at her confirmation hearing. Murkowski was moved to opposition, in part, by DeVos’ ignorance on the subject of native schools. Sen.Al Franken, D-Minn., described DeVos as “the most incompetent Cabinet nominee I have ever seen.”
Sen. Lamar Alexander, chairman of the Senate Education Committee, permitted only a single hearing on the DeVos nomination, conducted before the Office of Government Ethics completed its vetting of the nominee’s finances.
Each senator had only five minutes to question DeVos.
Only last year, Murray and Alexander worked together to reform the failed Bush-era No Child Left Behind schools testing program. They parted ways on DeVos. Murray is a onetime preschool teacher and Shoreline School Board member.
As if anticipating Tuesday’s vote, Murray warned that DeVos would be “the most controversial and embattled” Secretary of Education since the department was created.
“She would start this job with no credibility inside the agency she is supposed to lead,” said Murray. “With no influence in Congress. As the punchline in late-night comedy shows — and without the confidence of the American people.”
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