The Senate has confirmed Betsy DeVos as Secretary of Education after Vice President Mike Pence cast his tie-breaking vote for her. DeVos became the most contested nominee for a Cabinet position for President Donald Trump.
.@VP Pence breaks 50-50 tie on #BetsyDeVos Secretary of Education vote, first tie-breaking vote on Cabinet nominee. https://t.co/xgthuQB51c pic.twitter.com/S2zeQBdOqJ
— CSPAN (@cspan) February 7, 2017
BREAKING: VP Mike Pence casts historic tie-breaking vote to confirm Betsy DeVos as Pres. Trump’s education secretary https://t.co/HxFJAzYvbx pic.twitter.com/eorEjaUC5N
— CNN (@CNN) February 7, 2017
The Senate Democrats debated for a full 24 hours against DeVos, hoping to turn one more Republican senator to their side. Last week, Republican Senators Lisa Murjowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine announced they would not vote for DeVos. They kept their word and voted no.
This meant the vote ended at 50-50 after all the senators voted. Pence has become the first vice president to ever break a tie for a Cabinet nomination.
The teachers unions and leftists railed against DeVos because she champions school choice. DeVos doesn’t believe a zip code should determine where a child receives their education:
Ms. DeVos’s supporters said public-school students in low-performing schools should have other options, just as wealthy families who send their children to private schools do. They said charter schools often use creative teaching methods and have more flexibility than public schools to fire bad teachers.
Ahead of the vote on Tuesday morning, President Donald Trump wrote on twitter: “Senate Dems protest to keep the failed status quo. Betsy DeVos is a reformer, and she is going to be a great Education Sec. for our kids!”
The Democrats said that during her hearing before a Senate committee, Devos showed “a weak grasp of education policy and is unfit for the job.” But I don’t think they realize that the Department of Education does not run the public schools across America.
Senator Tim Scott (R-SC) also reminded the Senate that the Department of Education cannot privatize public education, only Congress can do that.
Of course, leftists have lost their minds over this confirmation:
a terrible moment in US history to confirm such an incompetent person as #Devos a total rejection of logic or concern for education
— Sandra Bernhard (@SandraBernhard) February 7, 2017
Rejecting DeVos was the GOP's easiest way to say "Mr Prez, let's take this slow, we got 4 yrs". Instead they declared war on our children.
— Joss Whedon (@joss) February 7, 2017
By supporting the magnificently incompetent Devos tthe GOP has earned its place as the most cowardly party in US history. We won't forget!
— Danny Zuker (@DannyZuker) February 7, 2017
Pence casts tie-breaking vote to confirm Betsy DeVos as Education Secretary. Grizzly bears lose. So do America's kids.
— Nicholas Kristof (@NickKristof) February 7, 2017
News flash – there no longer is a local Democratic Party infrastructure outside a few states https://t.co/gt5x8ISSnv
— Legal Insurrection (@LegInsurrection) February 7, 2017
Why do you hate poor inner-city kids who want the same choices as rich suburban kids? https://t.co/xCc6jViCwP
— Legal Insurrection (@LegInsurrection) February 7, 2017
No, they won’t https://t.co/sdtT5uFjgN
— Legal Insurrection (@LegInsurrection) February 7, 2017
12:30PM EST:
Mike Pence has voted for DeVos and confirmed her as Secretary of Education.
— ⚾️ Mary #FlyTheW ? (@mchastain81) February 7, 2017
12:29PM EST: Officially a 50-50 tie as expected.
12:17PM EST:
There it is. Murkowski and Collins have officially voted no on DeVos.
— ⚾️ Mary #FlyTheW ? (@mchastain81) February 7, 2017
12:11PM EST:
So far down party lines.
— ⚾️ Mary #FlyTheW ? (@mchastain81) February 7, 2017
12:09PM EST: 12 – YES and 14 – NO
12:03PM: Senate roll has started.
12:00PM EST:
YES. Tim Scott reminds everyone that the DOE CANNOT privatize education.
— ⚾️ Mary #FlyTheW ? (@mchastain81) February 7, 2017
11:52AM EST:
Sen. Patty Murray is trying to encourage another Republican to vote against DeVos.
— ⚾️ Mary #FlyTheW ? (@mchastain81) February 7, 2017
11:37AM EST: Pence is in the VP Office.
Pence now in VP's office here at the Capitol, awaiting to break tie on confirmation vote of EdSec nominee Betsy DeVos
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) February 7, 2017
11:27AM EST Vice President Mike Pence has arrived on the Hill.
It's Pence pic.twitter.com/NfIpMlhZAe
— Burgess Everett (@burgessev) February 7, 2017
DONATE
Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.
Comments
How much did George Soros contribute, or is it all Teacher’s Union money?
Strange. After using the word ‘Compromise’ at every single opportunity over the last decade, the word seems to have dropped out of the Democratic vocabulary. It’s like they were just faking it or something…
That isn’t strange. You and I think that “compromise” means to come to some middle of the road position that gives everyone something of what they want while nobody gets everything they want.
The Democrats have demonstrated many times over the years that to them “compromise” means “do it our way or else”
The word “compromise” has a much more specific meaning to the left; it means ‘We settle for a slice of the loaf that’s currently yours” where the size of the slice is open to negotiation but nothing isn’t already in your possession is open to negotiation. “Yours” can mean literally in the case of taxes or it can mean a legal status quo that’s to your liking.
Yes, Granny, Democrats use the word “compromise” the way Adolph Hitler did. (Ducking:::::)
If interested, I’ve put together a whole Guide to Progressive-Speak ( http://www.unshackledaction.com/progressive-speak ). Compromise is simply the GOP doing exactly what the Democrats want.
Democrats: you can blame Harry Reid for your loss of influence on administration staff.
Hahahaha hahahaha it’s funny cause had the Dems not f#@ked about with Sessions vote they could have had DeVos head today ????????????
Karma: the eternal Senator.
How? The moment Sessions resigns from the senate the governor can appoint his replacement, who (having been forewarned) can already be in DC, ready to be sworn in immediately.
Also, the senate’s consent doesn’t automatically make Sessions AG, and thus disqualified from the senate. That doesn’t happen until the president appoints him, which can be held off until it’s convenient. Until then he can continue to vote in the senate.
51-50
Vice President Pence as the deciding vote. I’m a happy camper.
DeVos will do a great job because she will limit intereference by the federal government – not increase it to fit an agenda.
She will start cutting out favored pork programs and save our nation billions of $.
This is great news for education.
For some reason FoxNews is characterizing Pence’s tie breaking vote as “historic”. According to a source I googled it has happened 37 times in the past, from John Adams to Joe Biden. Historic how?
for Cabinet nominees?
Once the fillibuster was nuked this is bound to happen more often as presidents were free to nominate candidates who only had to pass the 50 vote threshold.
Thank you Harry Reed. 🙂
They don’t like Trump. Anything to make him seem strange.
It’s the first time there was a tie on a nomination. Used to be that if 50 senators were against a nomination they could filibuster it, so it would never come up for a vote that the VP could break.
Al Franken was more funny in his nonsense speech today than he ever was when he was a “comedian”.
Dear Randi Weingarten,
Ha ha ha. Ha ha ha. Bye bye Union stranglehold. Bye Bye Common Core. PS: Ha ha ha ha. Ha ha ha ha.
Signed,
EOS
Nice but, the real question is why do we have a FEDERAL Department of Education in the first place.
There is a lot to undue, at all indoctrination levels.
It’s in Article I, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution. Oh wait, I can’t seem to find it in the Powers Granted To Congress…I was sure it was in there somewhere… /sarc
It’s in 2.2.2: “all other Officers of the United States, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by Law”.
Can we start teaching the children civics again, maybe gun safety and maintenance?
If control of education returns back to local communities, yes we can!
Though I think that gun safety and maintenance should be the responsibility of mothers and fathers.
I’m reminded of Sideshow Bob’s acceptance speech when he was elected as Mayor of Springfield.
Supreme Court nominee(s)?
Anchovy asks a brilliant and most pivotal question. Perhaps, the reduction in the Federal deficit can begin with the unwinding of the Department of Education. Make it smaller. Reduce it’s size and scope. Cut its overhead and unnecessary funding. Spin its duties off to the states. The teachers unions must not receive federal tax dollars allowing them to push liberal progressive indoctrination of our children any longer.
The DoE is nothing but a useless and expensive pile of Federal overreach.
The only important thing about it today is how soon it can be eliminated.
So the only important question about this appointment is—does it contribute to that goal? Anything less than that is just more of that Holy Grail of government—Business As Usual … in perpetuity.
As for the Senate … it functions by swapping favors. It’s therefore fairly safe to assume that holdouts in general are Senators who didn’t get their favors. No favor, no vote—very fair, and doubtless very well understood by all the players. So what were Murkowski and Collins hoping to get? Senators tend to get what they want, eventually … which is one reason they’re given relatively long terms; delayed payoffs are still payoffs. I think it’s safe to reject out-of-hand any notion that the holdouts have any genuine concerns about DoE policies.
Is the DoE the source of the infamous “Dear Colleague” letters causing campuses to go insane over student sex? Perhaps DeVos can restore some rationality.
Yes, it is — and she can order the department to withdraw it the moment Trump appoints her.
and I suspect THAT is why Dems were so upset about this appointment, because they are sure she will do exactly that.
Dear Colleague letters: cancelled! OCR: defers to DOJ! Win, win, win!!