[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 20 (Monday, February 6, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Pages S685-S686]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                              The Cabinet

  Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, I rise this morning to speak directly 
to my friends on the other side of the aisle.
  Now is the time to put country before party. I understand the pull of 
party loyalty. I understand deference to a new President. But from what 
we have seen in the first 2 weeks of this administration, party loyalty 
is demanding too much of my Republican colleagues on several issues. On 
the matter of the Cabinet, on the matter of the President's Executive 
order on immigration, and on the matter of dealing with Russia, we need 
Republicans to set aside partisan considerations in favor of doing what 
is best for the country; otherwise, our institutions of government, our 
Constitution, and our core American ideals may be eroded.
  My friends on the other side of the aisle are going along with the 
President and treating many of these things as if they are normal, but 
America knows they are not. We need Republicans to start recognizing 
it, saying it, and stepping up to the plate to do something about it.
  I understand my Republican colleagues will go along with the 
President 90 percent of the time, but there are certain issues that are 
too important that demand putting country above party. Now is the time 
to put country above party.
  First, on the Cabinet, our norms of good government and above all 
ethics are being tested by a Cabinet unlike any other I have seen in my 
time in public office. There are so many billionaires with so many 
conflicts of interest and so little expertise in the issues they would 
oversee.
  Take the nomination we are now considering: Betsy DeVos for Education 
Secretary. In my mind she is the least qualified nominee in a 
historically unqualified Cabinet. On conflicts of interest, she ranks 
among the worst. In her ethics agreement, which was delivered to the 
committee after the first hearing, it was revealed that she keeps 
interests in three family-owned trusts that have holdings in companies 
that could be affected by matters related to the Department of 
Education. Independent ethics watchdogs have criticized her ethics 
agreement for failing to deal with these conflicts of interest.
  On philosophy of education, her views are extreme. She seems to 
constantly demean the main purpose of her job--public education. Nine 
out of 10 American kids attend public schools. Her views on public 
education are a major concern, particularly for Senators from rural 
areas. There is not a lot of choice of schools outside major 
metropolitan areas. If you don't have a good public school in your 
neighborhood or in your community, you have nothing. Any Senator from a 
rural State should be worried about her commitment to public education.

[[Page S686]]

  We in New York have the third largest rural population in America. I 
am worried for those schools where, if the school is no good, you don't 
have much choice; you don't have any choice.
  Above all, and on basic competence, Mrs. DeVos has failed to make the 
grade. She didn't seem to know about the Federal education law that 
guarantees education to students with disabilities. She could not 
unequivocally say that guns shouldn't be in the schools, and she didn't 
seem to know about a long simmering debate in education policy about 
measuring growth versus proficiency. Frankly, Mrs. DeVos's answers at 
the hearings were embarrassing, not only for her but for my Republican 
colleagues on the committee who rushed her nomination through with 5 
minutes of questions, only one round, and at 5 p.m.
  Cabinet Secretaries can't be expected to know everything, but this is 
different. The nominee for Secretary of Education doesn't know some of 
the most basic facts about education policy. She has failed to show 
proficiency, and there is no longer any time for growth.
  The American people are speaking in one loud voice against this 
nominee. I have had many people come up to me in New York and say: I 
voted for Donald Trump, but I am making calls about this nominee. 
Americans across the country in red and blue States have been flooding 
our offices with phone calls and emails, asking the Senate to vote no 
on Betsy DeVos. Local newspaper editorial boards, many of whom have 
endorsed Trump, are saying the same thing.
  My friends, the Senators from Maine and Alaska, were profiles in 
courage last week when they announced their opposition to her 
nomination, but, unfortunately, so far they are the exception. We need 
just one more vote, and we can get a Secretary of Education who is a 
lot better than the one who was nominated. I ask my colleagues on the 
other side of the aisle to follow the courageous example of the 
Senators from Maine and Alaska. We have an obligation as Senators--not 
as Republicans and not as Democrats, but as Senators--to evaluate these 
nominees and their fitness for office because these nominees are going 
to wield immense power over the lives of Americans for the next 4 
years. I ask my Republican colleagues to look into their conscience and 
cast their votes tomorrow, not based on party loyalty but based on 
whether or not Mrs. DeVos is qualified to be our Nation's leader on 
education policy. If one doesn't measure up, the Senate has a 
responsibility to reject the nomination.
  I realize it rarely occurs, but this should be an exception because 
she is so uniquely unqualified, whether it comes to competence, whether 
it comes to philosophy against the public schools, or whether it comes 
to conflicts of interest, which still exist in far too many instances 
with Mrs. DeVos.