Murkowski, Collins Will Not Vote for DeVos
She loses another then the Senate will not confirm her.
Betsy DeVos, President Donald Trump’s pick for Education Secretary, may have escaped her Senate committee hearing, but she just lost two Republicans on the Senate floor. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine told the Senate that neither one can vote to confirm DeVos:
“I come to the floor to announce a very difficult decision that I have made, and that is to vote against the confirmation of Betsy DeVos to be our nation’s next secretary of Education,” Collins said from the Senate floor.
Collins specifically pointed to DeVos’s “lack of familiarly” with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, saying she was “troubled and surprised.”
Murkowski has too many concerns about DeVos:
“I have serious concerns about a nominee to be secretary of Education … who has been so immersed in the discussion of vouchers,” Murkowski said.
“I do not intend to vote on final passage to support Ms Devos to be secretary of Education,” she said.
She added that the DeVos’s nomination was a “personal” decisions and that her office had been flooded with calls from constituents opposing Trump’s pick.
“I have heard from thousands, truly thousands, of Alaskans who shared their concerns,” she said.
“I do not intend to vote on final passage to support Ms Devos to be secretary of Education,” she said.
If DeVos loses another Republican, the Senate will not confirm her.
Press Secretary Sean Spicer thinks DeVos will become the next education secretary:
DONATE
Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.
Comments
Executive Order: All federal education funding for Maine and Alaska is hereby suspended.
Well, it would be satisfying.
Better than that, cut 100% of all Fed Funding in all forms.
Have all the Ds already said they won’t vote to confirm? I thought I heard or read somewhere that Manchin said he planned to vote for ALL of Trump’s nominees.
Murkowski better look out for her state. Alaska is going to need a favor from Donald Trump someday soon. Alaska is basically a tourist and welfare state.
Ah…”Lisa!!” … daughter of “Frank the Bank” Murkowski. Under the veneer of rugged individualism, many Alaskans are left of center and beyond having lived the good life from the oil royalties that are fading away. Having lived in the state “pre-pipeline”, all I can say is that I didn’t vote for RINOs. You are right… the BIG PICTURE is not the world of left of center.
80% of Alaska’s revenues comes from oil and gas. Tourism isn’t close. Alaska does get a lot of federal subsidies if that’s what you mean by welfare. I don’t see Alaska needing any favors from DC anytime soon.
Every Congress and both parties always have a couple of unreliable voters, usually in thrall to their constituencies, and these two are the left flank of the GOPe.
Maybe Trump’s draining the wrong swamp first, lol.
Doubt you have kept up with Alaska news per se. Major shortfall in budget, pipeline volume is down although somewhat steady, with the price of oil revenues below level needed for present governmental costs. Pipeline at about 500,000 barrels a day, but if falls to less than 300,000 then pipeline would have to be shut down…. it takes that much to keep it functional. Governmental spending down, mineral and timber down, tourism up but as you noted, not a huge factor. Alaska is officially in a recession. There is no fat of th land to live off of. Taking half of the individual divident (PFD) has put additional 15000 Alaskans below poverty level.
Assuming all other Senators vote according to party line (and Independents go Democrat), that’s a 50-50 tie to be broken by VP Pence. However, it would be nice to have the final vote before Jeff Sessions becomes AG, although I have no doubt that his replacement will vote to confirm.
Murkowski and Collins may feel free to vote against since they are confident she’ll slip through anyway.
This is what it looks like to me as well. Particularly the fact that the two of them announced this at the same time.
It also bothers me that she doesn’t have a good grasp on the IDEA, but she is intelligent and should be able to learn. If not, she can be subject to Trump’s catch-phrase – “You’re Fired!”
Well if Trump is not allowed to run his own agencies, then there is only one thing to do: Demote the Dept of Ed to non-cabinet status and fire 2/3 of them. I’m sure Ms. DeVos can handle managing what’s left.
Why stop there? Tell the Senate DeVos is the only candidate who is going to be put up. Confirm her or he’ll dismantle the Department pf Education. It’s a win-win for him.
Great time to cut.
I think that’s a WONDERFUL idea.
We could apply it to various other members of the administrative state.
And it’s a win-win for families and students all across America.
Two female Senators of whom I’ve NEVER thought highly.
Alaska has a significant revenue stream from oil revenues
Doing the Democrats’ work, one ‘Republican’ at a time.
With as much work as needs to be done these two yahoos can surely find a better location to place their roadblocks than Education. De Vos at her worst is bound to be far better than Arne Duncan on his best day. They must want some of Trump’s personal attention.
“With as much work as needs to be done these two yahoos can surely find a better location to place their roadblocks than Education.”
Think ‘home state teachers’ union’.
I was never happy that President Trump nominated ANYONE for that position rather than dismantling the whole intrusive mess.
Well, ok then.
Eliminate the Department of Education.
Now.
Guess which two Republican Senators have received a lot of money from the NEA? Murkowski rates 100% from the NEA and Collins rates 75% rating from the NEA. Wow! Is anyone surprised?
A kaffeeklatsch of rino scum. All that’s missing are McCain and Graham.
WHEN are we going to get around to drumming Murkowski and Collins out of the party? I’ve said the same about McCain, but his sorry ass is apparently BOLTED to the Senate floor.
For the love of God, Murkowski was BEATEN in her own STATE in the primary, and then when it came time to support the party nominee, the party didn’t devote resources to defeating her last minute temper-tantrum independent run.
Murkowski should be told in no uncertain terms “toe the line, retire, or be defeated in the next election.” We WILL devote the resources to running a true Republican Conservative and we will DROWN you. And in Alaska, we SHOULD be able to muster enough to get a Conservative elected.
Collins might just be a lost cause, Maine being what it is. If the hold on the Senate wasn’t so tenuous, I would say strip her of her committees and leave her in the cold. Maybe that can be done after 2018….
She’ll be confirmed. Sessions will come after her, so she’ll get his vote and Pence will break the tie. It’s all kabucki theatre.
But I do like the idea proposed above, no confirmation, dismantle the department. I’d vote no in that case…
I thought Sessions said he would neither vote on his confirmation or the confirmation of anybody else.
I would expect he would follow through on that.
Trump can always start firing whoever is left there. Or Congress can invoke that law which allows them to lower employees salary to $1 per year. Lower salaries until they quit.
Much prefer someone that will abolish the federal department of Education.
Devos wants to create yet ANOTHER federal program – for vouchers.
When are we going to learn?
Let the states that want to experiment with this. The federal govt. has no authority whatsoever to do anything related to education.
Abolish Common Core, kill what’s left of NCLB, then abolish the federal Dept of Education.
Both the senators are rejecting her for only meeting 95% of the level they demand – “She’s good on everything except …”. They are being (deservedly, IMO) criticized for taking this approach. But many of their critics took the same approach themselves during the election. How many conservative candidates were rejected with “He’s good on everything except …”? People might want to give that some thought before the next election. Trump might not be the President if some conservatives hadn’t been so fast to dismiss candidates who only met 95% of their litmus test. Whether that’s good or bad remains to be seen (who knows if anyone else could have beaten Hillary?), but I think the failed search for a mythical conservative super hero played a big part in Trump’s selection.
This one is so simple it’s ridiculous…
If there is no Betsy DeVos, then there is no need for Department of Education! Shut it down!
I came across this opinion article re refugees and education.
http://nypost.com/2017/01/31/how-trumps-refugee-order-targets-educational-injustice/
Summary –
1. State department decided where refugees were settled which was usually in a lower cost part of the states.
2. States & cities given little notice about who was settling.
3. Schools have to adjust to new type of student with different skills (or lack) with language and cultural issues.
4. Some districts try to develop programs to deal with issues and about learning English before “mainstreaming” them into regular classes.
5. School districts sued by ACLU and the schools have to put these students into the regular school, thereby impacting both the new refugees and the students already there.
6. Result – no one is learning.
And the elites wonder why Trump won? They don’t accept these refugees into their communities, yet tell us to be understanding. The article does mention that the educators report that most of the refugees are highly motivated, but not bringing them up to speed hurts everyone.
Me thinks that Collins and Murkowski are in the back pocket of the teachers’ unions. If DeVos isn’t confirmed hows about Trump just leaves the job open and cuts Dept Ed budget as much as possible? Less funding = less influence.
private schools huge issue up here and lepage gets attacked over it often.collins just helped attack him.
shes a piece of sh*t.
Based on the Acting AG issue, the acting head of any department has to be someone who has gone before Congress for approval. Does it have to be someone from the same department?
A lot of people are mentioning the elimination of the DEd, but there still needs to be someone in charge to oversee the breakup. So, if DeVos is not approved, get an Asst Secy approved at Treasury or AG and make them acting Secy of DEd. I would not trust anyone currently at DEd.