[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 10 (Tuesday, January 17, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Page S346]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        DeVOS NOMINATION HEARING

  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I have just been told that the hearing 
for Ms. DeVos, nominee for Secretary of Education, which began at 5 
p.m., much to our chagrin, is now going to be--the chairman of the 
committee, Senator Alexander, my dear friend, has stated that there 
will be only one round of questions, 5 minutes each.
  I tell my friend the majority leader, who just left, and my 
colleagues that this is not the way for comity: a hearing on a nominee 
with only one round of questioning, 5 minutes each, for a controversial 
nominee who has $5 billion of investments, who has not filed her papers 
yet. We feel very strongly that there ought to be another hearing, and 
this will affect how the rest of the nominees will go forward because 
we need time on them.
  I have never heard of anything like this--a major nominee with major 
controversy, not having filed her papers, and then the hearing only 
beginning at 5 p.m. today because my friend Senator Alexander wouldn't 
switch the hearing to a different day, even though there is no rush. 
Now Senator Alexander has just decreed as the hearing convened that 
there will be only one round of questioning, 5 minutes each.
  I understand why my Republican colleagues are rushing through these 
nominees--and this one in particular. They are afraid of what the 
public will hear. They are afraid of what these nominees represent. 
President-Elect Trump has said he is going to drain the swamp. What 
does he have? A rigged Cabinet of billionaires and not the blue-collar 
people he has appealed to. How do we know they will represent the 
interests of the country, of the President-elect himself--at least what 
he said in his campaign? How do we know they are free of conflicts of 
interest? There is no way to know.
  Tonight's hearing is an indication that the swamp is not close to 
getting cleaned up; in fact, it is getting worse. I have not heard of 
any hearing like this.
  I would respectfully urge my colleague, the chairman of the HELP 
Committee, which covers education, to have another hearing because this 
hearing is not close to being adequate; it is a mockery of the process.
  I yield the floor.

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