Is the Betsy DeVos nomination in trouble?

Posted by | January 30, 2017 09:00 | Filed under: Politics

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Senator Al Franken is, to put it charitably, not impressed with Education Secretary nominee Betsy DeVos:

[H]e and other Democrats will not vote to approve Betsy DeVos’ nomination as Secretary of Education. DeVos, a billionaire school choice advocate, has been heavily criticized for her lack of experience in public education.

Sen. Franken says that even some of his Republican colleagues agree that DeVos had a rough hearing revealing several gaps in her understanding of many policy issues.

“Hopefully I’ll be able to get a couple of my Republican colleagues to vote against her, and I met with Minnesota educators yesterday who are dead set against her. She would be a terrible Secretary of Edcuation for Minnesota and for the country,” Sen. Franken said.

The Senate Education Committee is set to vote on advancing DeVos’ nomination on Tuesday. Democrats do not have enough votes to stop her ultimate approval unless they get Republicans to join them

The GOP is trying to project a message of confidence that she will be approved, as reflected in a Sunday afternoon Washington Post story:

Democratic and Republican sources in the Senate, who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of negotiations about the vote, say that DeVos is expected to win approval by the education committee when it votes on Tuesday, and that she will prevail on the floor of the Senate whenever that vote happens.

The sources said that Republican Senate leaders have worked to keep Republicans in the fold to confirm DeVos. There were some Democratic hopes that some Republicans would switch sides on this one confirmation vote.

For example, during the confirmation hearing, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said that DeVos’s vision of expanding school choice — charter schools and voucher/voucher-like programs that use public funds to pay for private schools — doesn’t work well in rural areas where there aren’t other options besides traditional public schools to provide choices other than traditional public schools.


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Copyright 2017 Liberaland
By: dave-dr-gonzo

David Hirsch, a.k.a. Dave "Doctor" Gonzo*, is a renegade record producer, video producer, writer, reformed corporate shill, and still-registered lobbyist for non-one-percenter performing artists and musicians. He lives in a heavily fortified compound in one of Manhattan's less trendy neighborhoods.

* Hirsch is the third person to use the pseudonym, a not-so-veiled tribute to journalist and author Hunter S. Thompson, with the permission of his predecessors Gene Gaudette of American Politics Journal (currently webmaster and chief bottlewasher at Liberaland) and Stephen Meese at Smashmouth Politics.

13 responses to Is the Betsy DeVos nomination in trouble?

  1. Red Mann January 30th, 2017 at 09:25

    DeVos, yet another of tRump’s Best People.

  2. anothertoothpick January 30th, 2017 at 09:48

    She is part of the wrecking crew selected by trumpee to destroy the agency she would have led.

    She should just go back to selling that Amway crap and leave those kids alone.

    • crc3 January 30th, 2017 at 14:39

      Excellent post!!! AAA+!!!!

  3. William January 30th, 2017 at 10:34

    Filling the swamp. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/cac6e54d4295f8a2dc17563f9bd592d904e9829422cb9f38bc92762d2e1108d7.jpg

    • Larry Schmitt January 30th, 2017 at 11:10

      It’s amazing how he seems to have been able to find the absolutely least qualified person for each of those positions. You couldn’t have come up with a worse list if you were writing a Stephen King novel.

      • Carla Akins January 30th, 2017 at 11:11

        Seriously, it’s like he’s doing it on purpose.

        • crc3 January 30th, 2017 at 14:37

          He IS doing it on purpose. If there was only one bad pick I might allow him to slide but he has put many very unqualified and dangerous people in positions of power. We the people need to stop this now because the longer it goes the more damage will be done…

  4. crc3 January 30th, 2017 at 14:32

    DeVos is in no way, shape or form qualified to be the secretary of anything just like the rest of the clowns the maniac Rump has picked. She has zero knowledge about how the education system works and if she’s picked then democracy will continue to collapse…

  5. Bunya January 30th, 2017 at 15:38

    OMG! What if she’s not nominated? Who’s going to save us from grizzly bears dressed up as Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz, sneaking into Chicago public school science classes? Oh sure, shifty, unscrupulous bears have never been a problem in the past, but hey, it could happen, especially now with tRump in offfic! And then what’ll we do then?

  6. Suzanne McFly January 30th, 2017 at 17:55

    What the hell does this administration have on these republicans? Putin himself couldn’t pick a worse choice for a leader in our American Education System.

  7. ValianThor January 30th, 2017 at 22:10

    So was Franken qualified to represent the State of Minnesota? We all know his background. He and his (deceased) partner Davis did quite a few funny bits. 50/50 this is one, and he’ll end it with “I was for her all the way!”

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