[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 20 (Monday, February 6, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Pages S810-S824]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
Nomination of Jeff Sessions
Mr. President, now I would like to say a word--we will be saying more
later--on Senator Sessions, who will be coming forward after we vote on
Mrs. DeVos at noon today.
The nominee for Attorney General has huge importance--far greater
importance than the nominee would have had 3 or 4 weeks ago. We need a
lot of discussion on that. What we have seen is a President who
belittles judges when they don't agree with him. What we have seen is a
President who is willing to shake the roots of the Constitution and a
fundamental premise--no religious test--that is embodied within our
Constitution within his first few weeks in office.
We certainly need an Attorney General who will stand up to the
President. We have seen other Attorneys General do it, most notably in
the Clinton administration. Senator Sessions--I ride with him on the
bike in the gym--is not--if you can say one thing about him, he is not
independent of Donald Trump.
He supported Donald Trump from the very beginning. Even when Donald
Trump didn't look like he was going to be much of a candidate, if you
had to pick someone who would not stand up to a President when the
President goes too far--well, let's put it the other way. If you had to
pick someone who would stand up to a President when the President goes
too far on picking on the judiciary, on avoiding the tenants, breaking
the tenants of the Constitution, whatever the legal case shows, you
wouldn't pick Jeff Sessions.
His record is clearly troubling. We will hear a lot more about it
later. He is probably the most anti-immigrant Member of this body,
Democrat or Republican. And many of us on this side believe that
immigrants are an asset to
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America, not a liability. Many on the other side of the aisle probably
do too. When it comes to voting rights--so important, so fundamental,
and under attack right now--again, Jeff Sessions has not been a
stalwart. He has had a record that leaves much, much to be desired. On
the issue of civil rights as well, Senator Sessions' record is not a
record that I think anyone who believes in civil rights could admire.
We just had an acting Attorney General stand up to the President.
That is going to be a real test in this administration because there
seems so little regard for an independent judiciary and even for the
Constitution itself. That is probably the most important quality of
this new Attorney General. I have to say, as much as I agree with Jeff
Sessions on an issue like trade, he is the wrong, wrong, wrong choice
for Attorney General. He would be at any time because of his record on
immigration, civil rights, and voting rights, but particularly wrong
now because we need someone who has some degree of independence from
the President.
I am going to yield the floor. I hope one of our Republican
colleagues will step up to the plate in a few hours, but even if they
don't, we Democrats are very proud of what we have done here because
the nominee is so unqualified and the American people now know it. That
is an important tenet of this democracy, for the public to understand
who is running the government.
I hope my colleagues will listen to our arguments for the sake of
America--not for any partisan sake--about the Attorney General in these
very troubled times when it comes to the independent judiciary and the
Constitution of the United States.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Mexico.
Mr. UDALL. Mr. President, let me first of all begin by thanking
Senator Murray for her leadership in terms of leading us to scrutinize
this nominee, Betsy DeVos. It seems to me the more we dig into this,
the more we look at it, the worse it gets. So I rise in strong
opposition to the confirmation of Betsy DeVos as Secretary of
Education.
Mrs. DeVos is nominated to lead our Nation's public education system.
Yet she has worked for decades to privatize it and even to create
profitmaking centers. She wants to siphon public funds to private
schools. She has led a multimillion-dollar lobbying campaign to fund
private, religious, and for-profit schools with public education
dollars.
We can all agree that we want our Nation's schools to be the very
best they can be. We want our children to have all the opportunities we
can provide, but that really is the issue. That is why Democrats have
held the floor all night long to do everything in our power to convince
the Senate to reject this nomination.
I believe in the public school system. I want all of our children to
have opportunities. That is the fundamental principle of our American
school system. Everyone should be able to get a great education.
Mrs. DeVos wants to dismantle our public schools. She would drain
resources from the children and teachers who need it the most. I can't
say it strongly enough: A vote for Mrs. DeVos is a vote to destroy our
public school system. My constituents agree. We have received over
63,000 emails and over 2,000 telephone calls in the last month alone
opposing this nomination. These are recordbreaking numbers from my
office for a Cabinet nominee. Many of those calls and letters are from
public school parents and teachers, men and women who are dedicated to
our students and our public education system. They understand that
Betsy DeVos is not qualified to lead our Nation's public education
system.
Betsy DeVos is the first nominee in history for Secretary of
Education with no experience in education or public administration. She
is not a teacher. She is not a school administrator. She didn't attend
public schools. Her children didn't attend public schools. She has
never held a government position, let alone one in education. In fact,
she has open disdain for government.
Mrs. DeVos's complete lack of experience and profound lack of
understanding of education policy were on full display during her
confirmation hearing. Under questioning, it was clear that Mrs. DeVos
was completely uninformed about the ongoing debate in education policy
between proficiency and growth. This issue is critical. It is well
documented that there is a correlation between test scores and
students' socioeconomic status and race. So evaluating schools based on
average test scores tends to penalize schools with large numbers of
low-income and racial minority students. Even if those schools produce
significant student growth on math and reading test scores, proficiency
or growth is one of the most basic education policy questions, and yet
the President's nominee for Secretary of Education doesn't understand
the issue. Maybe this is because she has been single-mindedly focused
on feeding private, for-profit charter schools with public dollars and
the religious and other private schools through vouchers. So her
knowledge about education is limited to her pet issue.
Valerie Siow, who has taught in public schools in New Mexico for 13
years, observed that Mrs. DeVos ``had not bothered to do her homework''
for the hearing. It is clear that Mrs. DeVos does not have the breadth
or depth in education policy or finance to be the Secretary of
Education.
Senator Hassan has a son who has cerebral palsy. She told us a moving
story about the good education he received in the New Hampshire public
schools, despite his disability, because of the Individuals with
Disabilities Education Act, or the IDEA.
Senator Hassan asked if Mrs. DeVos would require schools using
vouchers to comply with that law. Mrs. DeVos initially responded that
she believes the decision should be left to the States. When Mrs. DeVos
was informed that it is Federal law, that it is not up to the States,
she responded that she must have been ``confused.'' Confused? Mrs.
DeVos bragged that she has been an education advocate for 30 years. The
IDEA was passed over 25 years ago, in 1990. Mrs. DeVos was not
``confused.'' She plainly did not know what the Individuals with
Disabilities Education Act is.
It is very disturbing that she appears not to know how public schools
educate and accommodate kids with special needs. Does she not know what
an individual education plan is? She didn't know, as she said in a
hearing to be Secretary of Education, that the millions of public
school children with disabilities have a Federal right to a free and
appropriate education.
It is just as troublesome that Mrs. DeVos did not know that children
with disabilities can lose their Federal right to an equal education
under State voucher programs--voucher programs she has spent years
advocating for. She did not know that voucher programs can require
students with disabilities to sign away their IDEA rights. Most
troubling of all, she would not commit to making sure voucher programs
comply with the law.
I am also quite concerned that Mrs. DeVos fails to appreciate the
important role that tribal cultures play in educating Native American
children. This Nation has a solemn trust and treaty responsibility to
provide quality education to Native students, both through the public
school system and the Federal Bureau of Indian Education. Her testimony
has proven that she is uneducated about these students as well.
Many States have significant tribal populations. In my home State of
New Mexico it is about 10 percent. As vice chair of the Indian Affairs
Committee, my job is to make sure that any Education Secretary is
committed to respecting tribal sovereignty and self-determination. Mrs.
DeVos has given me no assurance she understands, cares about, or is
prepared to address the needs of Native American students. Nothing in
her hearing or written answers convinced me that she will respect
tribal cultures, tribal sovereignty, or the right to self-
determination. In fact, her lobby organization, American Federation for
Children, supports the expansion of vouchers into Indian Country,
diverting money from tribal schools to private schools. I cannot
support taking money away from schools run by tribes and losing self-
determination efforts tribes are making.
The National Indian Education Association has said: ``Federal funding
should not be moving over to a private school system . . . move out of
our
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tribally-run school system and to a system that does not require
consultation and does not require active engagement of Native
communities.'' I couldn't agree more. She just shows a basic lack of
understanding of tribal sovereignty and self-determination.
Betsy DeVos seems to be driven by her personal religious views. I
respect the strength of her Dutch Calvinist religious beliefs, but
imposing her religious beliefs should have no place in funding public
education, which serves children of all beliefs.
In 2001, she talked about whether Christian schools should continue
relying on contributions instead of vouchers. Mrs. DeVos said:
There are not enough philanthropic dollars in America to
fund what is currently the need in education. . . . Our
desire is to confront the culture in ways that will continue
to advance God's kingdom.
I support her right to devote her philanthropic dollars to her church
and other religious efforts, but I oppose her view of using public
dollars to advance her view of ``God's kingdom'' in public schools.
Separation of church and State is a fundamental principal in our
democracy to protect people and communities from religious coercion by
the government. I am concerned that Mrs. DeVos does not have the
necessary respect for other people's religious beliefs and that her
policies could disregard the importance of tribal perspectives on
education.
We need assurance that every public school student--no matter their
religion, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation or identity, ability or
disability--will be respected, protected, and included at the highest
levels in Washington, DC. That is the job of the Secretary of
Education. Mrs. DeVos has not shown over the many decades she has
lobbied on education that she agrees with this basic proposition.
I support making good, quality public school options available. There
are many great public charter and magnet schools around the country. We
have some good ones in New Mexico. But these public schools should meet
the same accountability standards as other public schools--standards
for student achievement, teacher performance, and fiscal
responsibility.
I also support the option of private and religious schools. We have
great private and religious schools in our country. But public dollars
must go to public schools, not private or religious schools, and
certainly not private for-profit schools. The first objective of any
for-profit venture is to make money. That cannot be the first objective
of a school using public funds.
The first and foremost objective of public education funds should be
education for students. When public dollars are used, their use must be
fully accountable and transparent to the public. Betsy DeVos would not
commit that private for-profit charter schools and voucher schools
should have the same accountability standards as public schools. Why
didn't she make this commitment? Likely, because the private charter
schools in Michigan, funded by public dollars--that she has championed
for decades--do not have to meet the same accountability standards as
public schools. This is wrong. These same schools--her work for
decades--have not shown appreciable gains in Michigan over the years.
In fact, Michigan test scores have gone down over time. These schools
have not shown significant improvement over public schools in Michigan.
Finally, I am not convinced that Mrs. DeVos has been transparent in
her responses to the American public. She did not make her disclosures
available to the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee at
the time of her confirmation hearing--this is unprecedented--and the
committee had no opportunity to look into her many, many financial
conflicts.
Since then, she has entered into an agreement with the Office of
Government Ethics. While she will divest from approximately 100
investments that pose a conflict, we do not know if she has divested
from all conflicts. Mrs. DeVos benefits from three trusts. She has not
disclosed the assets in two of those trusts.
The complexity and enormity of Mrs. DeVos's $5 billion holdings is
mind-boggling. We know that from one trust at least 100 conflicts
required divestment. Without transparency in other trusts, the public
does not know if she has any more conflicts.
I also want to raise the issue of Mrs. DeVos's unwillingness to
address her PAC's unpaid $5.3 million fine in the State of Ohio for
violating campaign finance laws.
This situation is troubling on a number of levels. First, Mrs. DeVos
led a multimillion dollar political effort to influence elections
throughout our Nation. Second, while doing so, Mrs. DeVos's political
action committee willfully ignored campaign finance laws and warnings
from State election officials. She racked up an unprecedented $5.3
million fine in Ohio. Then, third, rather than acknowledging that she
broke the law and owning up to her responsibility to pay it, her PAC
simply folded up shop and walked away.
As Secretary of Education, Mrs. DeVos will be responsible for
overseeing college loans for millions of students. Yet she refuses to
acknowledge or pay her own debts. Does she believe the law doesn't
apply to her?
I have written to Mrs. DeVos and the HELP Committee several times
demanding answers about this. Her responses were evasive. She refuses
to pay the fine--hiding behind the corporate veil--while still paying
lawyers to fight it. This is hypocrisy, on top of disregard for the
law.
We have never had a Cabinet nominee, who led a dark money PAC, which
broke the law and flouted the judicial system. This is absolutely,
totally, unprecedented.
For all these reasons, I must vote no on the confirmation of Mrs.
DeVos as Secretary of the Department of Education.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for
the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, it is pretty clear. It is pretty simple.
There never has been a nominee for Secretary of Education as
unqualified as Betsy DeVos. That is clear to pretty much every Member
of this body--not that every Member of this body is going to stand up
and vote the way that probably their conscience suggests they do.
Whether they like her ideology or not, whether they like the hundreds
of millions of dollars they have contributed to all kinds of political
campaigns or not, they clearly understand that this nominee, from her
performance and her lack of depth of knowledge of education, is simply
not qualified.
As many have said on this floor, based on her confirmation hearing,
it appears she has a complete lack of knowledge as to what the
Department of Education actually does. She didn't seem to understand
the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, which requires public
schools to provide free and appropriate education to all students with
disabilities.
I think that when I first ran for Congress some years ago--I assume
it was the same for the Presiding Officer; I know it was the same for
the ranking member from Washington State who sits here in this Chamber
and who has led the opposition to Betsy DeVos--from my first days in
Congress, every time I met with school boards, every time I met with
teachers, every time I met with school administrators, with principals,
they would talk to me about IDEA. They would talk to me about school
districts and the costs and their obligation and duty and desire to
serve these students. Yet the designee for Secretary of Education put
her hands up when there were discussions in the committee on the
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.
It is astonishing that a nominee for Secretary of Education would
demonstrate complete ignorance on something as crucial and important to
public school education--to education as a whole--on this. It isn't her
hearing performance alone that should disqualify her; it is her record.
She has no experience with public schools at all.
The President of the United States has nominated for Secretary of
Education someone with no experience in public schools at all--not as a
teacher, not as an administrator, not as a student, not even as a
parent. Nothing. Her only experience in education is as
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a wealthy donor inheriting tens of millions of dollars herself. Her
only experience in education is as a wealthy donor who spent millions
of dollars advocating for for-profit--not charter schools like KIPP and
Breakthrough in my State but for-profit charters in her State, the same
policy that has ripped off taxpayers and failed students in Ohio. It
betrays students, and it undermines and fleeces taxpayers.
It is obvious that if she and her family hadn't donated $200 million
to Republicans and to conservative causes, there is no chance someone
this unqualified would ever have been nominated for a position as
exalted, as crucial, as important as Secretary of Education. Two
hundred million dollars apparently is the price for the Cabinet slot.
So much for the President's campaign promise of draining the swamp.
We see nominee after nominee, appointee after appointee coming from
Wall Street. Now we see a $200 million contributor has also earned a
Cabinet slot.
Because of her crusade, more than 80 percent of Michigan's charter
schools are operated for profit. She helped design one of the least
effective charter school systems in the country in Detroit. This
matters to me because I know a lot about what has happened with for-
profit charter schools in Ohio. For-profit charters have failed in
Ohio. They have led to a charter school sector. Again, taking out KIPP
and Breakthrough and the good charters that we have seen in Ohio, we
have seen a charter school sector that has wasted taxpayers' money,
that has funneled it to unaccountable for-profit companies, and that
have been plagued by scandal after scandal.
I take that personally in Ohio because I know how students have been
betrayed by this for-profit sector, I know how taxpayers have been
fleeced in my State in this for-profit sector, and I know the
devastation it leaves behind in less money, fewer dollars for public
schools.
People call my State, regrettably, the ``Wild Wild West of charter
schools.'' What a name to earn--Ohio is the ``Wild Wild West'' of for-
profit charter schools. Students suffer as a result. Students in public
schools, students in for-profit charter schools, and students in not-
for-profit charter schools suffer as a result. The last thing we need
to do is take the Wild Wild West model in Ohio or, even worse, the for-
profit charter school structure and model in Michigan and replicate it
at a national level.
This is important to remember: Of all the K-12 students in the
country, public schools educate 90 percent of them, 90 percent of the
students in this country. Betsy DeVos called traditional public
education a ``dead end.'' Dead end for whom? She called traditional
public education a ``dead end.''
Think of what we have done in this country. From 1789, when George
Washington took the oath of office, up until now, public education has
built this country. It has given all kinds of people opportunity, given
all kinds of people a chance to get ahead. It has educated our
children. We should be proud of our public school system.
We may confirm in the vote today a nominee who called a traditional
public education a ``dead end,'' someone who has never worked in a
public school, never gone to a public school, never been a parent of
somebody in a public school.
She said she doesn't think that all schools that receive taxpayer
dollars--whether they are public or for-profit charter--should be held
to the same standards of accountability.
To me, one of the most telling moments of the committee hearing was
when she would not commit to the same accountability standards for for-
profit charters as she did for public schools. Do you know why? Because
she knows her for-profit charters that she is so proud of don't live up
to the same standards and that they are simply not as good. That is why
she doesn't want accountability measures applied equally to for-profit
charters and public education.
In Michigan, she fought a rescue plan for Detroit Public Schools that
would have finally provided accountability for charters schools. No.
She is against that. Why have lower standards for for-profit charters
schools? Maybe that is because--I don't know about her investments. I
don't think she has disclosed everything to the committee, but neither
did Secretary-Designee Mnuchin. Neither did Secretary-Designee Price. I
can go on and on. She doesn't want the same accountability for profit
charters because it might hurt some of her investor friends.
She funneled $25,000--mostly inherited money--every day to
legislators of Michigan until this accountability proposal was
defeated. It was probably not $25,000 every day, but over time it
averaged $25,000 a day to legislators in Michigan so she could have her
way. Talk about draining the swamp. Yet she can't seem to come up
with--this I take personally too--the $5 million she owes to Ohio
taxpayers for violating State election laws. What is that about? She
came into Ohio with a political action committee that she mostly funded
and that she was involved in in a number of ways.
The Ohio Elections Commission and Ohio officials in a nonpartisan way
found her guilty of campaign finance law violation. This committee was
assessed a $5 million fine. Guess what. She quit putting money in this
committee because she didn't want it to be subject to the fine. Our
attorney general has not gone after her. He wants to be Governor, and
he is a member of her party. I don't know their relationship or much
care, but she is depriving our State of $5 million that she owes
through this committee. Legally, she has found a way, with very
expensive lawyers, to weasel out of it, to navigate her way through it.
The fact is, by any standards of decency, she owes my State $5
million. That could be 60 or 70 or 80 teachers. She cares about
education. Paying a $5 million fine is probably like me paying 50
bucks. She is a billionaire, and $5 million won't break her. She will
hardly notice it. But she is going to be in charge of the Department of
Education, which collects student loan debt from people coming out of
school making $30 or $40 or $50,000 a year, burdened with tens of
thousands in student loan debt and struggling every month to make those
payments. Yet she owes $5 million, and she just says: Sorry, I am not
going to pay it.
Through this confirmation process, she will not even pay the debt of
$5 million. Are my colleagues on the Republican side of the aisle
saying it is OK to nominate her and confirm her even though she owes
this money to my State? She sent us a letter finally last week because
I asked her to explain herself in the promise to repay taxpayers in my
State.
She sent us a letter last week again refusing to take any personal
responsibility for the legal action of this political action committee
she founded. She chaired it at the time it broke the law, she paid the
legal bills for it, but she wouldn't pay the fine that this committee
owes, saying: I don't owe it.
Is that who you want? Is that the kind of person you want in terms of
personal integrity, personal responsibility? I don't know how many
times I have been preached at in this body by my colleagues on personal
responsibility. But she will not pay her $5 million debt. Again, she
founded a political action committee. She chaired it at the time she
broke the law. She paid the legal fees for it, but she will not pay the
money she owes that could hire 60, 70, 80 teachers in my State.
She spent millions pushing the same for-profit education model agenda
that has ripped off Ohio taxpayers and shortchanged our students.
Most people in this country used to think that billionaires are not
above the law. In fact, some people--3 million fewer than voted for the
other candidate--some people voted for this President because he said
he would drain the swamp. If billionaires are, in fact, above the law--
if we are not holding Betsy DeVos accountable, it is hard to argue that
billionaires are not above the law.
She is opposed by the disability community. She is opposed by the
civil rights community. She is opposed by a number of people in the
more legitimate charter school community. She is opposed by teachers.
Even the National Association of Principals has come out against her
nomination. If Senator Murray's words are correct about this--and I
know they are because we have talked to them--this is the first time in
history that the National Association of Principals has come out
against a Secretary of Education.
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I can't support Betsy DeVos because I can't look Ohio's parents in
the eye and tell them she will not put profits ahead of their
children's education. Our children deserve better than that.
In closing, I will come back to my comments about the Individuals
with Disabilities Education Act, about which she knew nothing or knew
little. I think how could a Secretary of Education-designate, who
prides herself on knowing a lot about education, how could she not know
much about IDEA? And then it occurred to me. If you are running a for-
profit charter school, you don't want disabled kids coming to your
school. Why? Because it costs more to educate a disabled child than it
does a child without any disabilities. It costs more because you might
need more use of a nurse, a student aide, wheelchair accessibility, you
might need special tutors. It costs more to educate a disabled child. A
for-profit charter school doesn't want children with disabilities to
walk through their doors or come in through a wheelchair through their
doors. They can't make as much money.
This is how we do privatization in this country: Let the public
schools take care of the disabled, the child with disabilities, because
we are in this for profit. It is a little bit like Medicare. The
private for-profit insurance companies want the youngest, healthiest
people in Medicare, the 65- and 70-year-olds who are active, who take
walks, do all that. They don't really want the sickest and the oldest.
Let taxpayers pay for them. That is exactly what her model of education
is all about. Let the for-profit charters skim the cream, if you will;
take the children who cost the least and are easiest to educate, but
the public schools take care of the children with disabilities.
Let the public schools take care of the children who maybe didn't
have as much advantage in life as Betsy DeVos growing up. Let the
public schools worry about the kids who might be a little more
difficult because of discipline and other issues and what is going on
in their homes. That is pretty clear how she looks at the world and
looks at this job and, most importantly, how she looks at education in
our country.
That is what disturbs me. That is fundamentally why I oppose Betsy
DeVos and plan to vote emphatically today, no.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Washington.
Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I thank the Senator from Ohio for his
passionate remarks on this topic. I have had the opportunity over most
of Friday and over the last 23 hours, to listen to my colleagues come
to the floor and speak passionately about an issue they care about,
speaking against DeVos. We heard very little passionate speaking for
Betsy DeVos, but we heard a tremendous amount of passion against.
I want to thank the Senator from Ohio, in particular, speaking to the
issue of the fact that Mrs. DeVos does owe a fine to Ohio that has not
been paid. I find it incredulous that we are just dismissing that here
and the Senators are voting for her.
The Senator from Ohio spoke passionately about what vouchers would
mean for students with disabilities, and their ability to get a good
education could be in jeopardy over the vision that this Secretary is
about to put forward.
A few moments ago, I listened to the Senator from New Mexico speak
about our tribal schools and the fact that this Secretary of Education
has no knowledge of tribal education and her role in being in charge of
that with no experience and no idea of what that means or how that will
be enacted.
Again, I want to just say that we heard from so many people in our
States because we clearly have a nominee to run the Department of
Education with no experience and a background that is really in
opposition to what most of us have stood up for and fought for most of
our lives. I have mentioned throughout this debate--as I have spoken
numerous times about the tremendous amount of letters that have come to
me through our mail over the last several weeks since this nominee came
before our committee and the public had a chance to see Mrs. DeVos at
our hearing, without the knowledge she needs to lead this agency, with
the tremendous conflicts of interest that were portrayed over and over.
I want to again go back and read some of those letters as we get into
the last hour of this debate because I think they are quite telling.
I have one from Dr. Jennifer Kay Lynn of Olympia, WA. She says to me:
Thank you for your understanding Betsy DeVos would
devastate U.S. public education. Betsy DeVos's Senate
confirmation hearing underscored how unprepared she is to
serve as America's Secretary of Education. Mrs. DeVos has no
experience in public schools, either as a student, an
educator, administrator or even as a parent. Mrs. DeVos
doesn't understand key policy issues, like proficiency versus
growth, or the Federal role of the Individuals with
Disabilities Act.
Mrs. DeVos would not even commit to upholding current
guidance on preventing sexual assault under title IX. Mrs.
DeVos has no idea of how the arts and public education are
critical for human development, education. All of the arts
help our students grow emotionally, with dedication to task
or more and more connections with the brain, and perhaps,
most importantly, find out how much the arts enhance their
lives. We need a Secretary of Education who will champion
innovative strategies that we know how to improve success for
all students, including creating more opportunities and
equity for all.
Betsy DeVos is not that person, and I urge you to vote
against her for Secretary of Education.
Those aren't my words. I didn't talk to Jennifer Lynn. She wrote to
me because she saw this candidate come before our committee. She has
looked at her record and has said: This is not what our country is
about.
I got a letter from Jamie Michaelson of Oroville, WA, very small
community.
Senator Murray, as a public school administrator, I am
extremely concerned about Betsy DeVos' lack of knowledge and
support for public schools. Having never been a teacher or
administrator is bothersome enough, but to have not attended
a public school herself, nor sent her kids to one, makes her
ill-equipped to making educational decisions.
Furthermore, I worry about her understanding of small,
rural districts. We have our own unique needs, which include
funding professional development for teachers, Federally-
funded programs for at-risk youth, and support to recruit and
retain high quality teachers.
As a strong supporter of public education, I ask that you
oppose the confirmation of Betsy DeVos as Secretary of the
U.S. Department of Education. We must have a Secretary who
can commit to supporting every student in our public schools,
and provide leadership that will help our neighborhood
schools succeed. Betsy DeVos' record in education and her
performance at the recent confirmation hearing proves she is
the wrong candidate for the job.
As a principal, I have spoken with teachers, parents,
students and community members, who agree that America's
future depends on a strong investment in our Nation's public
schools.
Thank you for your attention to this matter. I understand
that you are being inundated with emails concerning Cabinet
picks. I feel the nomination of Betsy DeVos is political.
Students, families and educators deserve a highly-qualified
candidate that understands our complex educational system. I
am not writing to you because I have a political motivation.
Instead, I am looking for the best of the best for the
Secretary of Education position. Unfortunately, in my
professional opinion, Betsy DeVos is not the right person for
this job.
I couldn't agree more. Shouldn't we have the best of the best at the
top of our education system today? That is what my constituents are
asking--and I know many across this country are hoping that just one
more Republican Senator will agree. That is what will occur in about an
hour.
I see my colleague on the floor who has come here to talk. I
appreciate him being here, and I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Delaware.
Mr. CARPER. Mr. President, thank you for your leadership on this
issue, and God knows, how many others. You are a force of nature. I am
happy to be with you on this day.
I come from Delaware, and we have about a million people who live in
Delaware, and they are not shy about telling their congressional
delegation--Senator Coons, Congresswoman Lisa Blunt Rochester, and me--
what they are thinking. We go home just about every night. They get to
tell us a lot of times in person. They also call our office. We have
three offices in Delaware. They call our office here in Washington.
They send us emails. We used to get a lot of letters, but now mostly we
receive emails, not too many letters.
I have never seen the kind of outcry, if you will, from the people of
my State
[[Page S815]]
on any nomination. I have been privileged to serve. This is my 17th
year. So we have seen a lot of nominations come and go, seen a number
of Presidents come and go, but I have never seen anything quite like
this.
I asked my staff to compile for me, through yesterday, the number of
folks who either called us or emailed or sent us letters on the
nomination of Betsy DeVos to be Secretary of Education.
As of yesterday, over 3,700 people had contacted my office. That may
not be a lot from Oklahoma. That may not be a lot from California. That
is a lot in Delaware. I ask my staff to break down--let us know if we
heard from anybody outside of Delaware: over 700. Then I said, for the
folks who contacted us from Delaware with respect to this nomination of
Betsy DeVos, how many were for her? Out of over 3,700--10. I have never
seen anything like that.
So that means there are over 3,700 people in my State who raised
their voice up against her nomination. Just because the numbers are
like 370 to 1 against the nomination, that doesn't necessarily mean I
should oppose the nomination, but it certainly makes me stop and think
if I had been inclined to do so.
I rise today, not just as a United States Senator, but as a
recovering Governor and a father, one who knows the value of public
education from personal experience. My wife and I grew up--she in North
Carolina and me in West Virginia, a little bit of Ohio, and mostly
Virginia--we grew up in public schools. Our sons attended public
schools throughout high school, graduated and went off to college, and
we are proud of what they have accomplished. They are 26 and 28 years
old today. I am very proud of what they have accomplished. I have a
stepson from my first marriage. He lives in Michigan. He raised a
family, four children and his wife, and I am very proud of what he
accomplished--again, a product of public schools.
When I graduated from high school, I was fortunate to win a Navy ROTC
scholarship and go to Ohio State. I worked a couple of jobs while I was
going to school and was able to become one of the first people in my
family ever to go to college and to graduate from college. I spent five
as a naval flight officer during the Vietnam war. At the end of the
war, I came back to the United States and moved to Delaware. There,
thanks to the GI bill and continuing to fly as a Reserve P-3 aircraft
mission commander, I was able to make ends meet and get a graduate
degree in business administration from the University of Delaware.
The 8 years I was Governor, from 1993 to 2001, I spent a big part of
those 8 years focusing on creating a more nurturing environment for job
creation, job preservation. Our Presiding Officer has heard me wax on
in our committee--more often than he probably wants to remember--about
a major job of government under State, local, Federal, is to create a
nurturing environment for job creation, job preservation. In a family,
you have breadwinners, people earning an income, making a way for
themselves, for the rest, and our job is a whole lot easier.
One of the keys to that nurturing environment is to make sure the
young men and women coming out of our colleges, our high schools, our
trade schools have the ability to read, to write, to think, to use the
technology, and to have a good work ethic and go out and be a good
employee for any employer who might hire them.
Public education is personal for me. I have had this remarkable
connection to it for my whole life. In our little State, I visit
schools almost every week. We have a program called Principal for a
Day. I have been Principal for a Day. It is from the State chamber of
commerce. I joke and tell people I have been Principal for a Day in
about half the schools in Delaware. It is probably not quite right but
probably 30 or more. I keep running into kids who went to high school
and say: ``I was your principal, did you know that? Only for a day, but
it was a good day.'' I learned a lot from doing that.
I mentored, for probably a couple of decades, a bunch of different
kids, trying to help be a good role model for them and give them an
extra person to be able to lean on and to count on.
Just recently, I was over at the school a couple of miles from our
home at Mount Pleasant Elementary, which has a terrific elementary
school in the Brandywine School District in Northern Delaware. The
Teacher of the Year there for the State was good enough to let me come
by and shadow her for part of her day and see what a really terrific
teacher does. During the 8 years I was Governor, one of the highlights
of every year was the day I would host, in June at the end of the
school year. We have 19 school districts. Each school district picked
the Teacher of the Year. They have the chance to have lunch--the
Delaware Teachers of the Year--and just to focus on their school
districts and their schools and their classes, what was working to
raise student achievement and really be inspired by all of them.
I hear regularly from my constituents about the importance of public
education. In fact, I was out running late Sunday afternoon, actually
into the dusk. I was going by a Wawa on Philadelphia Pike, just north
of Wilmington. Some guy came by and he rolled down his window. As I ran
along, he said, ``Don't vote for that Betsy DeVos.''
I said, ``Really. Can't get away from it.''
But I hear it a lot. I hear the message loud and clear.
Many of our colleges have covered this nomination at some length. But
I think it bears repeating. I would just say this: Experience matters.
Mrs. DeVos has, as far as I can tell, no experience in public education
as a student, none as a parent, none as a teacher, none as a school
administrator--none.
Maybe that alone should not disqualify her, but it is concerning.
During her confirmation hearing, Mrs. DeVos failed to answer the most
basic questions relating to education policy, and she demonstrated, not
just in my view but certainly the views of a lot of the people who
watched and shared their views with me, that she was unqualified,
really unprepared for what I think is a critical task.
Many of my colleagues who support Mrs. DeVos point to her experience
in Michigan, where Mrs. DeVos used her significant wealth and influence
apparently to push an education reform agenda centered on vouchers,
centered on for-profit charter schools that delivered questionable
outcomes for students and taxpayers.
Let me just say, I was a Governor who proposed legislation, signed
legislation creating charter schools. I have been a champion of public
charter schools in my State and in our country. I have been a champion
here in the Congress. I am not a champion of all these for-profit
colleges and universities that we have. Some of them are very good;
some of them are not.
I am concerned with the advent of for-profit charter schools,
particularly those that are not doing the job, getting the job done and
raising student achievement for the young men and women who are
students there.
Leading the Department of Education is a very big job. It is a very
important job. The Secretary of Education is responsible for overseeing
a budget of some $36 billion for K-12 education and $150 billion for
higher education, as well as managing a portfolio of more than $1.2
trillion in outstanding Federal student loans.
I have been fortunate as a Congressman, as a Governor, as a Senator,
to work with any number of Secretaries of Education in the
administration of George Herbert Walker Bush, the administration of
Bill Clinton, the administration of George W. Bush, and the
administration of Barack Obama--people like Dick Riley, former Governor
of South Carolina, people like Arne Duncan, who was a great school
leader in Illinois and for our country as well. When I think of the
giants they were and the work they did and how knowledgeable they were,
how inspiring they were, how uplifting they were, that is the kind of
leader we need. They were not just all in Democratic administrations or
Democratic and Republican administrations. As much as ever, we need
that kind of leader today.
I will conclude by saying that Mrs. DeVos too often lacks experience,
just as often has the wrong experience that we should expect from
someone to lead the Department of Education at what is really a
critical juncture for our country. I cannot support her nomination
because I am not a convinced that she is interested in bringing
Democrats
[[Page S816]]
and Republicans together on a shared vision of improving public
education in this country. Reluctantly, I must urge my Democrat and
Republican colleagues to listen to this groundswell of voices from
across the country and ultimately oppose this nomination.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Flake). The Senator from Maryland.
Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, as the Senate deliberates the nomination
of Betsy DeVos to be Secretary of Education, I have heard from more
than 4,200 Marylanders who have called my office, more than 3,700
Marylanders who have emailed me, and countless others who have sent me
messages via Twitter and Facebook, and, as Senator Carper has
indicated, those who have just stopped me on the streets and urged me
to oppose her nomination.
They have contacted me to express their strong support for public
education, and they are concerned about whether Mrs. DeVos is equally
committed to public schools. I share their concern. Marylanders and I
agree that our children deserve an advocate in this position who will
work to strengthen the ability of public school educators to serve our
children.
As a proud graduate of the Baltimore City Public Schools, I
understand the transformative powers that quality public school
education can provide a child. The education I received at city schools
has allowed me, the grandchild of immigrants, to represent Maryland in
the Senate. I owe that to my public education, my public school
education.
Maryland has made a commitment to providing adequate funding for
public education over the past decade. Consequently, Maryland has
consistently been a national leader in student performance and student
outcomes.
Each day, our State's nearly 880,000 students make their way to
classrooms of more than 60,000 and thousands of more support personnel
and education leaders in over 1,400 Maryland schools. I appreciate the
service of Maryland educators, not only from the perspective of a
lawmaker, a father, and a grandfather but also as a husband of a former
school teacher.
Mrs. DeVos appeared before the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and
Pensions Committee to articulate her view on how to best serve our
students as Secretary of Education. I found several of Mrs. DeVos's
answers to the committee questions to be troubling, particularly what
appeared to be her tepid support for our Nation's public schools; her
failure to recognize the critical Federal civil rights safeguards for
children with disabilities; her inability to offer an opinion on
longstanding debates within the education community that she would be
expected to join as Secretary of Education; her support for President
Trump's dangerous campaign promise to eliminate gun-free school zones;
and her overall lack of response on how to provide students and their
families with affordable higher education.
Maryland families know and understand the value of a high quality
public school education. Since 2008, enrollment in our State public
schools has increased by nearly 36,000 students to a record enrollment
of approximately 880,000 students for the 2016-2017 school year.
While enrollment has continued to increase at a record pace, I am
proud that Maryland public schools have consistently ranked among the
top five public school systems in the country.
I worry that Mrs. DeVos's enthusiastic support for private school
choice programs could hamper the progress in State and local education
in Maryland and could prevent us from providing the highest quality
level of education for our public school students. School choice
programs that shift Federal fund dollars from public schools to defray
tuition at private schools weaken the ability of Maryland's hard-
working public school professionals to deliver college- and career-
ready education for Maryland's diverse students.
Certainly private schools play an important role in our education
system. As Senator Carper points out, he supports, I support, charter
schools within our public school system. I support the role that public
schools play. But we mustn't forget that more than 91 percent of
American children attend public schools. They and their families
deserve a Secretary of Education who will fight to strengthen public as
well as private education.
School choice programs are not one-size-fits-all solutions to
strengthen education in the United States. They leave out students in
our rural communities, for instance, and have been shown in Maryland
for the most part to support students who are already enrolled in
private schools.
I urge our Secretary of Education nominee--if she is confirmed--to
work to provide our public school teachers with the training, tools,
and resources necessary to provide all children with a high-quality
education. I was particularly concerned by Mrs. DeVos's apparent
unfamiliarity with critical Federal civil rights safeguards for
children with disabilities, guaranteed under the 1975 Individuals with
Disabilities Education Act, IDEA.
IDEA ensures that every child with disabilities is afforded a free
appropriate public education. Across my State, more than 100,000
children receive federally funded services under the IDEA to help them
succeed academically. Mrs. DeVos did not seem to know that States must
follow this critical civil education rights law if they accept Federal
funding.
Parents across the country advocate for their children on a daily
basis, utilizing the protections afforded to their children under the
IDEA. They deserve a Secretary of Education who understands her
responsibilities and the Federal Government's responsibilities to
children with disabilities. Last year's enactment of the bipartisan,
bicameral Every Student Succeeds Act was a true success.
This was an incredible accomplishment put together by Senators
Alexander and Murray. For the first time in 14 years, Congress
reauthorized the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, legislation
that was first enacted 50 years ago as part of the civil rights era to
ensure that all of our children are able to attain a high-quality
education.
That act eliminated the outdated and ineffective accountability
system of adequately yearly progress and now provides States with the
flexibility to decide their own accountability system to identify,
monitor, and assist schools in need of improvement to best educate
their students.
We gave local flexibility but maintained accountability. That was a
major improvement in the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. The
modifications allow States to move away from reliance on a collective
set of test scores to measure students' proficiency. Now, States will
be able to design accountability systems that take into account student
growth over the course of a school year.
As Secretary of Education, Mrs. DeVos would be tasked with leading
the Federal implementation and review of the State development
accountability systems. But in a hearing before the committee, she
struggled to understand the definition of proficiency versus growth and
had to have committee members help her define those terms.
Maryland educators oppose the high-stake testing requirements under
the previous Federal accountability system. They deserve a Secretary of
Education who understands the basic concepts of Federal involvement in
our public schools, so they can effectively advocate for more accurate
accountability systems that better show student growth in the
classroom.
Mrs. DeVos's expressed support for President Trump's misguided pledge
to eliminate gun-free schools zones is deeply concerning. Maryland's
families have made it loud and clear to me that this approach is wrong
and would unnecessarily put our students in harm's way in the very
classrooms in which they are expected to learn. Since 2000, there have
been four school shootings across my home State. One shooting in a
school anywhere in our country is too many. Each of those incidents is
a tragedy, and I do not wish to see more students and educators put at
risk of additional tragic incidents of gun violence by allowing
firearms in our classrooms.
Rather than support the Federal programs developed under the
Elementary and Secondary Education Act to provide additional funding
for school-based mental health resources in our national public schools
that can provide assistance for those who may commit gun violence at
schools, Mrs. DeVos would spend those tax dollars on
[[Page S817]]
school choice programs and open up our classrooms to potential
violence.
In the coming months, future college students and their families will
sit at their family kitchen tables to apply for financial aid to pay
for college and await the news of their acceptance to the college of
their choice. I have talked to so many Marylanders who are struggling
with allowing their children to go to schools of higher education so
that they can be best prepared, but they are looking at the realities
of the cost involved in higher education. This is an exciting time, yet
an increasingly anxious time for parents and students as the cost of
attending college continues to rise.
Mrs. DeVos needs to demonstrate that she is familiar with the
process, the steps necessary to apply for Federal financial student
aid, and appreciates the enormous burden families increasingly
undertake to gain a foothold in the middle class through higher
education.
Mrs. DeVos appears willing to roll back protections for student
borrowing and to allow taxpayer funds to be put at risk of failing for-
profit schools that do not provide students with the educational skills
necessary to join the workforce. At a minimum, I would expect her to be
an advocate to make sure that Federal funds are not used for these
schools that are not being held accountable for what they do.
I would like to hear Mrs. DeVos voice her support for America's
College Promise plan to provide academically successful students with
the ability to earn the first 2 years of their college degree tuition
free at a community college. So far I don't think she has said
anything. That is the most efficient way to try to educate our
children.
I appreciate Mrs. DeVos's willingness to serve, and I believe she is
sincere in her beliefs, but I am concerned that those beliefs, if
enacted, would harm the capability of America's public education system
to serve the vast majority of students across the Nation and pile on
needless costs to students, their families, and the American
taxpayer. Therefore, I will stand with Maryland's students, teachers,
and parents in opposing Betsy DeVos for Secretary of Education.
With that, Mr. President, I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Washington.
Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I have had the opportunity over the last
almost 24 hours now to hear from a wide swath of our Democratic
conference speak out against the nomination because they feel so
strongly that in this country public education is a core principle. I
know a number of my colleagues will be participating with me in these
last few minutes, but I want to thank, again, everyone who has written,
who has called in, who has expressed their opinion on this critical
nominee that this President tapped to oversee education policy.
Mr. SCHATZ. Mr. President, will the Senator yield for a question?
Mrs. MURRAY. I yield to the Senator from Hawaii for a question.
Mr. SCHATZ. I thank the ranking member of the HELP Committee, the
senior Senator from Washington.
You can trace the history of public education in America to the
Original Thirteen Colonies. In 1635, boys in Boston could get a free
education, and by 1647, the Massachusetts Bay Colony required every
town to provide boys a basic education.
Some 340 years later, our public education system has come a long
way, but some things don't change. Our communities still understand how
public education lays a foundation for success. It is still the great
equalizer.
Senator Murray, during Betsy DeVos's hearing, you asked a very
important question. You asked: Can you commit to us that you will not
work to privatize public schools or cut a single penny from public
education?
Mrs. DeVos responded by saying she would work to find common ground
and give parents options.
I am wondering whether you were satisfied with her answer and her
commitment to the basic premise of public schools and public education.
Mrs. MURRAY. Well, I thank the Senator from Hawaii for his question.
He is absolutely right. I did ask Betsy DeVos, when she came before
our committee, if she would commit to not privatizing our schools or
cutting a single penny from public education, and she would not do
that. She would not do that.
To me, that sends a very clear message, and it did obviously to
parents, students, and administrators across this country, that she was
not committed to the core principle of public education, that our tax
dollars in this country always have and should continue to be to make
sure that every student, no matter where they are, will have the
opportunity to participate in education. Her answer clearly meant that
she was going to take money from our public education system, from our
schools--big, small, rural, urban, and suburban--to go to private
schools. That would mean a devastation for many communities.
So I thank the Senator from Hawaii for his question.
Ms. HASSAN. Mr. President, will the Senator yield for a question?
Mrs. MURRAY. I yield to the Senator from New Hampshire.
Ms. HASSAN. Thank you very much.
Senator Murray, I have been very concerned, as you know, with Mrs.
DeVos's lack of understanding of issues facing students with
disabilities. My son Ben's experience in public education was made
possible because there were so many families and advocates who came
before my family to make his inclusion possible.
Before IDEA, students who experienced disabilities in an
institutional setting often didn't get an education at all and were
often mistreated.
Yesterday when I spoke on the floor, I discussed a woman in New
Hampshire named Roberta who had been in our State school before IDEA
was passed and gave accounts of terrible experiences there.
Do you also have concerns with Mrs. DeVos's lack of understanding of
the challenges faced by students who experience disabilities and her
lack of commitment to ensuring that all students have a free and
appropriate public education?
Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I deeply share the concern of the Senator
from New Hampshire. She came to the floor last night to speak
eloquently about the challenges that our students with disabilities
have and the promise that this country has made now for decades that if
you are a student with a disability, you will be able to go to a public
school and get the education that you need.
She spoke eloquently. For everyone who didn't hear her, I ask you to
go back and look at the Record and listen to it.
Yes, I am deeply concerned that this nominee whom this President has
sent to us is not committed to that basic premise that, no matter who
you are or where you come from or what you look like or if you have a
disability, you get a public education. But I am not only concerned
that she doesn't have a commitment. I am deeply concerned that she
didn't even understand that it was current Federal law.
How can someone be a Secretary of Education in this country and not
understand that basic premise and not give that commitment to people
across the country that, if it is your child or someone you love or
someone you know, they, too, can go to school and get what they need.
So I want to thank the Senator from New Hampshire. And, yes, I am
deeply concerned, as we all should be in this body and across the
country, that this nominee is not prepared or qualified to make that
basic assurance for all students in this country.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Minnesota.
Ms. KLOBUCHAR. Mr. President, my mom was a second grade teacher, and
she taught second grade until she was 70 years old. That was her life's
work.
I went to public school, and I sent my daughter to public school. It
has really been the core of how I ended up in the Senate.
After a close review of Mrs. DeVos's confirmation record and the
hearing, I have concluded that, like all of my colleagues on the
Democratic side and two of our colleagues on the Republican side, I
cannot support her. I don't believe she is prepared for this job, and I
don't believe she is committed to the kind of public education that got
my family from an iron ore mine in Northern Minnesota to the U.S.
Senate.
My question of Senator Murray is that one of the most troubling
examples of this lack of preparation came
[[Page S818]]
when Mrs. DeVos was questioned by my colleagues Senator Hassan, who
just spoke, and Senator Kaine about whether schools should meet the
standards outlined by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.
She said she would leave this decision to the States.
As I noted yesterday, I occupied the Senate seat once held by
Minnesota's own Hubert Humphrey. He was someone who, of course, was
never at a loss for words.
He delivered a speech at the Minnesota AFL-CIO 40 years ago, and one
line of that speech is just as appropriate today as it was back then.
He said: ``The moral test of government is how the government treats
those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the
twilight of life, the elderly; and those who are in the shadows of
life, the sick, the needy and the handicapped.''
These civil rights protections and the funding that we have seen
under IDEA have always been an area of bipartisan cooperation. I have
heard from so many parents in my State.
A mom from Watertown with a son who was born with Down syndrome says
that thanks to IDEA, this law has given her the opportunity for her son
to participate in a normal education.
For a woman from Lakeville, her son was born with developmental
disabilities in the late 1980s. She was so worried about what his
future would be. Then that law was put into place, and today he is a
successful young adult who happily lives, learns, and works in his
community.
So my question of Senator Murray is what her views are of the
nominee's qualifications when it comes to the Individuals with
Disabilities Education Act and the concern that she has heard from
others in her State as well as across the country when it comes to this
very important issue for our children.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Washington.
Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I want to thank the Senator from
Minnesota, who came the other night to talk passionately about her own
mother, who was a teacher and her favorite course to teach was about
the monarch butterfly and how she would come dressed up as a butterfly
and how she impacted a young student in her classroom who is now a
young adult and still remembers the learning experience that her
mother, as a teacher, gave to him. That spark is so important for every
child in this country--that spark for education--no matter who you are,
your disability, or what brings you to school that day. That is what is
so important about the term ``public education.'' Every child in this
country deserves a public education and to reach their full potential,
no matter what they look like, how they come to school that day,
whether they have been fed or have a disability. That spark is what is
so important.
That is why so many people have spoken out in this country about this
nominee, who knows nothing or very little about IDEA--not even that it
is a Federal law that is under the jurisdiction of the Department that
she is seeking and that she would oversee and protect those students.
That, to me, is deeply disappointing. It says to me that this President
should say: I don't want this nominee to go forward. I will send you
someone who understands this law.
I appreciate the question from the Senator from Minnesota.
Mrs. McCASKILL. Mr. President, will the Senator yield for a question?
Mrs. MURRAY. I yield for a question.
Mrs. McCASKILL. I say to the Senator, it is my understanding that the
essence of Mrs. DeVos's career has been an effort to impose on States
programs--and now a Federal Government program--that will take money
out of public schools to provide for parents and students to then go to
private schools. Is it a fair characterization of the essence of her
career that parents should have a choice with public money to decide
whether they want to attend a public school or a private school?
Mrs. MURRAY. The Senator is correct. The essence of what she has
promoted and used her vast wealth for and has worked for throughout her
experience is to take money away from public education and put it into
private schools.
Mrs. McCASKILL. So I am confused.
We just had an election. In my State, the reddest parts of my State
are parts of the State where there are no private schools--rural
Missouri. I am a daughter of rural Missouri. My father went to public
school in Houston, MO. My mother went to public school in Lebanon, MO.
I attended public school in Lebanon, MO, and Columbia, MO. In fact, I
am a product of public education from beginning to end. Both of my
parents went to the University of Missouri, and so did I.
In rural areas of this country, there are no private schools for
parents and kids to choose. They would have to drive miles. By the way,
in my State, the newly elected Governor just cut transportation funds
for public schools--just cut them. So they now have less money for
transportation than they had last year. And, by the way, it isn't like
public schools are getting fully funded in my State. They are not.
So I guess what I am confused about--I know what public schools mean
to rural Missouri. I know they are the essence of the community. If the
essence of this woman's career is to take money out of public schools
in rural communities and put them in private schools that will never
exist in many of these small communities, they are kicking the shins of
the very voters who put them in power.
I don't get that. I don't get that, Senator. I don't understand how
you could give the back of your hand to rural America with this
decision. I would implore my colleagues who understand that rural
America is where their base is in large part that they are misreading
this vote if they think that rural America is going to forget that this
woman wants to rob the public schools of rural America and put in
private schools in the cities, which they will never be able to attend.
I thank the Senator.
Mrs. MURRAY. I thank the Senator for her question. I just want to say
that she is absolutely right. The money is not magic. It doesn't just
get printed to give vouchers to schools. It comes from our public
schools. As she stated so eloquently, there are many schools--some in
rural areas, some in urban areas, or mostly in rural, and there is no
private school to send your kids to. That voucher money, that public
money, those taxpayer dollars will come away from those schools. They
will have less money, but it won't go to the advantage of those
students, and they will be left behind.
Ms. STABENOW. Mr. President, will the distinguished Senator yield for
a question?
Mrs. MURRAY. I yield for a question.
Ms. STABENOW. Thank you very much. Before asking my question, I want
to thank the senior Senator from Washington State for her leadership
and passion on behalf of my children and on behalf of myself. As a
product of a small rural school in Northern Michigan, my two children
went to public school, and my two grandchildren are now going to public
schools.
I want to thank you for your leadership, and I am so grateful to all
of our colleagues and our two Republican colleagues who are joining us
today.
Would you agree that when we look at this--and I certainly have a
bird's-eye view. We in Michigan have lived what has happened in cutting
public schools and moving dollars to private, for-profit, nonprofit
charters without virtually any accountability. Would you agree that
essentially we have a nominee who is looking through a lens of a
private sector for-profit model, where in the private sector we have
winners and losers, so you can have a business open and close. That is
based on our private marketplace. It works well, but in education it is
different. We can't afford for any of our children to be losers in
education, and it just doesn't work to have this competitive
marketplace; that what we need is a quality public school along with
public choices. I support public charters with accountability and other
choices, but what we have is a view of a nominee, someone who has not
been involved in public schools herself, or her children, and so on,
who comes at it from this perspective of winners and losers in the
private market, and we cannot afford any child to be a loser as it
relates to their education.
Mrs. MURRAY. Well, I want to thank the Senator from Michigan for that
question because it is at the heart of what this entire debate is
about. We
[[Page S819]]
have a nominee who has come forward who is quite successful in private
business--a billionaire herself--whose idea and vision for our Nation's
education comes from a private business perspective.
The Senator from Michigan is absolutely right. Our schools are not
about profits. They are not profit centers, and we can never run them
that way because there is a core principle that this country was
founded on that our forefathers very wisely thought of. They wanted to
make sure that every young person in this country, no matter who they
were and how much money they had, would get a public education.
You can't run that as a for-profit business because there are kids
who come to our schools who are very hard. Maybe they come without
having had a parent home the night before, they come hungry, they come
with disabilities, they come with challenging education experiences. We
can't throw those kids out because there are other kids who come with
parents who are very active and are really bright and we want to keep
them because they are better for profit. We have to run our public
education schools so every child has that opportunity because who knows
who that young child is going to be who takes that nugget of public
education and ends up sitting here in the U.S. Senate. That is the
foundation of our country.
I really appreciate the Senator from Michigan for raising that
because that is the core essence of why so many people have spoken out
against this nominee, who stood up and have written us letters and made
phone calls and stood at rallies and spoken out--many people who have
never spoken out on issues before who have never really paid attention
before, but this is about the core principles our country was founded
on, a public education for all--not a profit education for all but a
public education for all.
Mr. MERKLEY. Mr. President, will the Senator from Washington yield
for a question?
Mrs. MURRAY. I will yield to the Senator from Oregon.
Mr. MERKLEY. I appreciate your point and the belief that the son or
daughter of a millwright, a mill worker as I was, should have the same
opportunity as the son or daughter of a CEO in a big company. That is
embedded in the notion of quality public schools.
What I was really struck by was that DeVos wants to divert all these
public funds from our schools to for-profit schools, and if it is for-
profit, you squeeze down the services in the school to maximize the
profit, and that is just exactly the type of attack on our children
that we can't tolerate, but I was also struck about how she imposes the
accountability for these alternative schools. The columnist Stephen
Henderson of the Detroit Free Press said:
Largely as a result of DeVos's lobby, Michigan tolerates
more low-performing charter schools than just about any other
State. It lacks any effective mechanism for shutting down or
even improving failing charters.
He goes on to say:
We are a laughingstock in national education circles and a
pariah among reputable charter school operators who have not
opened schools in Detroit because of the wild west nature of
the educational landscape here.
Do you share the concern about the complete lack of accountability of
these for-profit schools that are pulling the funds out of our public
schools in Michigan?
Mrs. MURRAY. Let me thank the Senator from Oregon for his question
because he raises a very important point. No one is debating whether we
want our kids to have a choice. The debate here is about whether or not
those schools that take taxpayer dollars through a voucher system are
accountable to the taxpayers who are paying for those vouchers.
This nominee came before our committee and very clearly stated that
she would not equally hold accountable private schools. Now, I was a
former school board member, and I can tell you, I was there late many
nights listening to parents who stood before us and talked about the
fact that they wanted to make sure that their school had good teachers
or their school had good policies, and we were accountable to that
because we were an elected board, and we had to make decisions based on
what our constituents thought was important.
These are our constituents who are paying their tax dollars to this
country, and they want to know that their taxes are used accountably.
Yet we have a nominee before us at the Department of Education who has
said she wants to take those taxpayer dollars--your money--and send it
on to private schools with no accountability. What does that mean? That
could mean that those private schools don't necessarily have to provide
a strong curriculum in specific topics. It means they can let kids out
of school and say: We don't want to keep you here anymore. You are too
tough to teach.
It can say that they will not keep records of dropout rates so we
know whether or not they are encouraging these tough kids to go to
another school. They can actually deny access to students with
disabilities or who come from tough backgrounds who may not meet their
standards, and they will not be held accountable under the policies
that Ms. DeVos proposes. So the Senator raises an absolutely critical
question. At the end of the day, each elected official in this country
is held accountable to their taxpayers to assure that the money they
give out in their taxes is used in a way that our country agrees on,
and this Secretary of Education says: Nope. We want to change that. We
want your tax dollars to go to schools that are not accountable to you.
Mr. MERKLEY. I thank the Senator from Washington for her answer. So
often I have heard speeches about accountability from across the aisle.
This is a case where accountability matters a tremendous amount because
it determines whether our children have a fair shot at driving America.
So I thank the Senator from Washington for elucidating us in regard to
that issue.
Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, we have a number of Senators who have
been on the floor who are here now and who would like to speak, and I
ask unanimous consent that I continue this dialogue with Senators until
a quarter to 12, and the last 15 minutes be equally divided between the
chairman of the committee and myself.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
Mr. ALEXANDER. Reserving the right to object.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Tennessee.
Mr. ALEXANDER. That would mean the chairman of the committee would
speak last.
Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, let me revise my request. I ask unanimous
consent that we continue to have this conversation until a quarter to
12 p.m.; that at a quarter to 12, I will give my final remarks and
divide equally the last 15 minutes so the chairman of the committee has
the last 7\1/2\ minutes.
Mr. ALEXANDER. I have no objection.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Ms. DUCKWORTH. Will the Senator yield for a question?
Mrs. MURRAY. I will yield to the Senator from Illinois.
Ms. DUCKWORTH. I do not believe that the President nominated the best
candidate to serve as Secretary of Education. I don't believe he even
nominated a qualified candidate. Mrs. DeVos has never taught, never
worked in a school system, and has no educational degree in education
policy.
I was hoping that she would ease my concerns over her qualifications
at the confirmation hearing and prove that she was indeed up for the
job, but, instead, Mrs. DeVos failed to study, showed up unprepared,
and appeared unfamiliar with the foundational civil rights law that
guarantees every student, including those with disabilities, the right
to a quality equitable education.
I would not be here today were it not for strong public schools and
civil rights protections. Confirming her to lead the agency tasked with
educating our children and helping them develop into successful adults
would be a mistake for our children because they would have to pay for
and live with this mistake for decades to come. There is simply no way
that I can support her nomination.
I ask the Senator, how is it possible that we could have a Secretary
of Education who does not understand or even know about those Federal
protections
[[Page S820]]
for students with disabilities to have access to equitable and fair
education?
Mrs. MURRAY. I want to thank the Senator from Illinois, who is an
amazing new and great Member of our Senate. She comes from Illinois.
She comes from an incredible background and is asking a critical
question about whether our students with disabilities should have
access to education.
It is a passion many of us have feelings about, it is a principle
that our country has supported, and it is a principle that this nominee
is uniquely unknowledgeable about and, to me, that is reason enough for
any of us to vote against that nominee.
Mr. FRANKEN. Will Senator Murray yield for a question?
Mrs. MURRAY. I will yield to the Senator from Minnesota for a
question.
Mr. FRANKEN. Thank you. As Senators on opposite sides of the aisle,
we have philosophical differences, but one thing I think we all agree
on is that our Cabinet Secretaries must be qualified and up to the
challenge of running an agency.
Betsy DeVos has demonstrated that she is not qualified to run the
Education Department. I would say to my colleagues on the other side of
the aisle, if you watched her confirmation hearing, you would know
that. It was the most embarrassing confirmation hearing I have ever
seen. She could not answer the most basic questions about education. So
I ask my Republican colleagues, if Mrs. DeVos's performance in this
hearing didn't convince you that she lacks qualifications for this job,
what would have had to have happened in that hearing in order to
convince you?
If we cannot set aside party loyalty long enough to perform the
essential duty of vetting the President's nominees, what are we even
doing here?
Let's do our job for the sake of the children and for the sake of our
Nation's future. Thank you.
Mrs. MURRAY. I say thank you to the Senator from Minnesota, and I
want to thank him for being a committed part of our committee, really
helping us all recognize that this nominee is not qualified.
I see the Senator from Hawaii who has, I believe, the last question.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Hawaii.
Ms. HIRONO. Will the Senator from Washington yield for a question?
Mrs. MURRAY. I will yield to the Senator from Hawaii.
Ms. HIRONO. As we have spent many hours debating whether Mrs. DeVos
is the best person to head our Department of Education, my question is,
Do you think Betsy DeVos is the best prepared, the best experienced,
and the best committed person to lead as the Secretary of the
Department of Education?
With your indulgence, I would like to put this into a little bit of a
context because we talk about how foundational public schools are and
how education is a great equalizer. I speak from experience as an
immigrant coming to this country not speaking any English, and I
learned from the public schools and the committed teachers in public
schools how to read and write English, to develop my love of reading,
to count on an education system to prepare me for success, not only in
school but in life.
That is why I want to also ask my colleague from Washington State,
for the nearly 200,000 young people in Hawaii who attend our public
schools and obviously the millions of young people in our public
schools throughout the country, Do you think Betsy DeVos is the best we
can do for these people who are attending our public schools?
Mrs. MURRAY. I thank the Senator from Hawaii, and I think that is the
question all of us should be posing to ourselves as we get down to the
final few minutes. Is this the best of the best?
Is this a knowledgeable candidate who understands the Federal law?
Is this a candidate who comes to us without conflicts of interest?
Is this a candidate who is willing to stand up and be the defender of
all young children in schools?
To me and to many of my colleagues who have been out here speaking,
she is not.
I want to thank all of my great colleagues who have been out here
speaking from their heart about a passion that they have in this
country for a candidate to lead the Department of Education who is
qualified, who is prepared, who is ready to stand up and fight for
every child no matter where they live or where they come from.
With that, Mr. President, I believe we are down to the last 15
minutes before the vote, with the time equally divided.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. That is correct.
Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, as I noted, Democrats have been here on
the Senate floor for the past 24 hours straight, talking about the
importance of public education, sharing stories from parents and
students and teachers in our home States, highlighting all of the
reasons for Senators to stand with us and stand with their
constituents, stand with other Republicans who are doing the right
thing, and urging them to say no to Betsy DeVos and her plans to
privatize public school and destroy public education in America.
But I come to the floor today to make one final push before this
vote, to make the case one last time, because we are so, so close and
because this is so important and also because we have a real shot right
now to show people across the country that the Senate can actually
listen to them, that their voices matter, and that their Senators put
them and their kids and their families and their futures above loyalty
to a party or a President.
I have talked about my frustration with the fact that Republican
leaders did everything they could to jam this nominee through the
Senate. They cut corners and rushed into a hearing before her ethics
paperwork was in. They blocked Democrats from asking more than 5
minutes of questions, forcing a vote before all of our questions were
answered about her tangled finances and her potential conflicts of
interest, and rushed straight from the committee vote to the shortest
possible floor debate they could manage.
So I won't spend more time on that today because the truth is that
despite Republicans' best efforts, people across the country have
learned a whole lot about Betsy DeVos over the past few weeks, and the
more they have learned about her, the less they have liked and the more
outraged they have become.
Over the past few weeks, people have learned about Betsy DeVos's
tangled finances and potential conflicts of interest and how she and
her family have given hundreds of millions of dollars to Republicans
and extreme conservative groups. They have learned about her failed
record, how she spent her career and her inherited fortune pushing
anti-public school policies that have hurt so many students in her home
State of Michigan and across the country. They have learned about the
extreme rightwing ideology that drives her, how she wants to bring her
anti-government, free-market-above-all philosophy to an education
system that she has called nothing more than ``an industry, and a dead
end.''
When people saw her in her hearing, they learned even more. When they
watched Betsy DeVos in that hearing room, when they saw it live on the
evening news, on ``The Daily Show,'' on ``The View,'' and on many other
shows covering it, and one of the many clips that went viral on social
media or shared by a friend or a family member, a whole lot of people
were introduced to Betsy DeVos for that first time in that hearing, and
they were not impressed. People across the country saw a nominee who
was clearly ill-informed and confused, who gave a number of very
concerning responses to serious and reasonable questions.
In that hearing, Betsy DeVos refused to rule out slashing investments
in or privatizing public schools. She was confused that Federal law
provides protections for students with disabilities. She didn't
understand a basic issue in education policy--the debate surrounding
whether students should be measured based on their proficiency or their
growth. She argued that guns needed to be allowed in schools across the
county to ``protect from Grizzlies.'' And even though she was willing
to say that President Trump's behavior toward women should be
considered sexual assault, she would not commit to actually enforcing
Federal law protecting women and girls in our schools. Those were just
a few of the moments in that hearing that made it clear why Betsy DeVos
is not qualified to do this job. There were many more.
[[Page S821]]
What people saw in that hearing wasn't just a nominee who didn't
understand the issues; they saw a nominee for Secretary of Education
who clearly didn't think about public education and public schools the
way they do. For most people, public education hits really close to
home. It is part of who we are, our families, and our communities. So
many of us owe everything we have to public education. We have watched
our kids and our grandkids and our neighbors get on the bus to go to
their local public school. Many of us have taught in public schools or
have family or friends who walk into classrooms every single day to
help our students learn. And so many of us believe in a commitment to
strong public schools that offer an education and opportunity to every
student. It is a core part of the American promise.
So when we saw someone nominated to this position who knows so little
about public education, who so clearly cares so little about public
education, whose strongest connection to public schools is through her
dedication to tearing them down, that struck a real chord with a whole
lot of people, and they decided to make their voices heard.
Over the past two weeks, we have seen an unprecedented level of
engagement from people on this nomination--tens of thousands of calls,
thousands of letters, hundreds of people calling in, social media, and
many of them have never been involved or made their voices heard
before. It made a difference. Right now, every single Democrat is
opposing this nomination, and two Republicans who listened to their
constituents are joining us. So we are dead even--the first time in
history that the Vice President will be called on shortly to cast a
tie-breaking vote on a Cabinet nominee. We just need one more
Republican to join us to prevent that from happening, one more to help
us show the people across this country that their voice matters in this
debate, one more to stand with people across the country and say no.
So I am here to finish this debate where we started--standing with
students and parents and teachers, with the people of my home State of
Washington and across the country who strongly support public schools
and true education opportunity for all, and with Democrats and
Republicans across the country who have poured their heart and soul
into opposing this nominee. I stand with you.
I urge one more Republican to join us.
Thank you, Mr. President.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Tennessee.
Mr. ALEXANDER. Mr. President, will you please let me know when 4
minutes has expired and then when 5 minutes has expired, and then I
will allocate to the Senator from South Carolina the last 2\1/2\
minutes.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Chair will so advise.
Mr. ALEXANDER. Mr. President, I am voting for Betsy DeVos because she
will implement our law fixing No Child Left Behind the way we wrote
it--to reverse the trend to a national school board and restore control
to classroom teachers, to local school boards, to Governors, and
legislators--because she has been at the forefront of the most
important public school reform in the last 30 years--public charter
schools--and because she has worked tirelessly to give low-income
children more of the same kind of choices that wealthy families have.
Twenty-two Governors in this country support Betsy DeVos.
I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record their names,
including former Governor Jeb Bush, former Governor Mitt Romney, former
Governor John Engler, and 462 organizations and elected officials who
support Betsy DeVos for Education Secretary.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
Highlights Among DeVos Supporters
These individuals have written letters, op-eds, or announced public
support
22 State Governors, including:
Gov. Robert Bentley, Alabama; Gov. Doug Ducey, Arizona;
Gov. Asa Hutchinson, Arkansas; Gov. Rick Scott, Florida; Gov.
Bruce Rauner, Illinois; Gov. Eric Holcomb, Indiana; Gov. Sam
Brownback, Kansas; Gov. Matthew Bevin, Kentucky; Gov. Paul
LePage, Maine; Gov. Rick Snyder, Michigan; Gov. Phil Bryant,
Mississippi; Gov. Eric Greitens, Missouri; Gov. Doug Burgum,
North Dakota; Gov. Pete Ricketts, Nebraska; Gov. Brian
Sandoval, Nevada; Gov. Chris Christie, New Jersey; Gov.
Susana Martinez, New Mexico; Gov. John Kasich, Ohio; Gov.
Mary Fallin, Oklahoma; Gov. Bill Haslam, Tennessee; Gov. Greg
Abbott, Texas; Gov. Scott Walker, Wisconsin.
Former Governors:
Jeb Bush, Mitt Romney, John Engler.
4 Former Education Secretaries:
William Bennett, Rod Paige, Margaret Spellings, Lamar
Alexander.
Former Senators:
Joe Lieberman and Bill Frist.
Democrats including:
Eva Moskowitz, founder and CEO of Success Academy Charter
Schools; Anthony Williams, former Mayor of Washington, DC.
____
462 Organizations, elected officials
National Support for the Nomination of Betsy DeVos to be U.S. Secretary
of Education
50 CAN--50 State Campaign for Achievement Now; ACE
Scholarships; Agudath Israel of America; Air Force
Association; Alabama Federation for Children; Alabama
Secretary of State John H. Merrill; Alabama State Sen. Del
Marsh, President Pro Tem; Alaska Rep. Charisse Millett, House
Republican Leader; American Federation for Children; American
Association of Christian Schools; Americans for Prosperity;
Americans for Prosperity--Arizona; Americans for Tax Reform;
Arizona Chamber of Commerce; Arizona Charter Schools
Association; Arizona Federation for Children; Arizona State
Sen. Steven Yarbrough, President; Arizona State Sen. Kimberly
Yee, Majority Leader; Arizona State Sen. Gail Griffin,
Majority Whip; Arizona State Sen. Debbie Lesko, President Pro
Tem; Arizona State Sen. Sylvia Allen, Education Committee
Chair; Arizona State Rep. J.D. Mesnard, Speaker of the House;
Arizona State Rep. John Allen, Majority Leader; Arizona State
Rep. Kelly Townsend, Majority Whip; Arizona State Rep. T.J.
Shope, Speaker Pro Tem; Arizona State Rep. Don Shooter,
Appropriations Chair; Arizona State Rep. Paul Boyer,
Education Committee Chair; Arizona State Rep. Tony Rivero;
Arkansas Secretary of State Mark Martin; Associated Builders
and Contractors (ABC); Association of Big Ten Students,
Former Director Adi Sathi; Association of Christian Schools
International; Association of the United States Army;
Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, West Virginia; Attorney
General Leslie Rutledge, Arkansas.
Attorney General Bill Schuettee, Michigan; Attorney General
Alan Wilson, South Carolina; Ave Maria University Associate
Professor Michael New; Barry Beverage, Teacher, Fayetteville
Christian School; First Lady Barbara Bush; Barbara Bush
Foundation for Family Literacy; The BASIC Fund; Secretary of
Education William Bennet; Black Alliance for Educational
Options; Bowdoin College Professor Jean Yarbrough; Business
Council of Alabama; California State Sen. Jean Fuller, Senate
Republican Leader; Calvin College President Emeritus Gaylen
Byker; Mark Campbell, United States Naval Academy;
CarolinaCAN; Catholic Partnership Schools, Camden, NJ; Career
Education Colleges and Universities (CECU); Center for
Arizona Policy; Center for Education Reform; Charter Schools
USA; Kevin P. Chavous; Former Member, Council of the District
of Columbia; Vice President Dick Cheney; Lynne Cheney;
Children's Education Alliance of Missouri (CEAM); Children's
Scholarship Fund, Chair Mike McCurry; Children's Scholarship
Fund--Baltimore; Children's Scholarship Fund--Buffalo
(BISON); Children's Scholarship Fund--Charlotte; Children's
Scholarship Fund--Philadelphia; Children's Scholarship Fund--
Portland OR; Civitas--North Carolina; Collaborative for
Student Success; Colorado State Board of Education Member
Steve Durham; Colorado State Board of Education Member Pam
Mazanec; Colorado State Rep. Paul Lundeen.
Colorado State Rep. Clarice Navarro; Colorado State Rep.
Libby Szabo (Former), Jefferson County Commissioner; Colorado
State Sen. Kevin Grantham, Senate President; Colorado State
Sen. Owen Hill; Colorado State Sen. Jerry Sonnenberg, Senate
President Pro Tem; Connecticut State Sen. Michael McLachlan,
Deputy Senate Republican; Connecticut State Rep. Vincent
Candelora; Cornell Law School Professor William Jacobson;
Cornerstone University, President Joseph Stowell; Delaware
State Sen. Gary Simpson, Senate Republican Leader; Delaware
State Sen. Greg Lavelle, Senate Republican Whip; Delaware
State Sen. Anthony Delcollo; Delaware State Sen. Ernie Lopez;
Delaware State Sen. Brian Pettyjohn; Ed Choice; Educate
Nebraska; Education for a Brighter Future; Empower
Mississippi; Ferris State University, President David Eisler;
Florida Charter School Alliance; Florida Coalition of School
Board Members; Florida Commissioner of Agriculture Adam
Putnam; Florida State Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater;
Florida State Rep. Michael Bileca; Florida State Rep. Manny
Diaz, Jr.; Florida State Rep. Richard Corcoran, Speaker of
the House; Florida State Rep. Jose Oliva, Speaker-Elect;
Florida State Rep. Jose Felix Diaz; Focus on Family.
Foundation for Excellence in Education; Foundation for
Florida's Future; Friends of Betsy DeVos, Ed Patru; Former
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist; Tim Forti; Principal, St.
Mary's-ST. Alphonsus Catholic
[[Page S822]]
School; George Washington University, Professor Henry Nau;
Georgia Charter Schools Association; Georgia Secretary of
State Brian Kemp; Georgia State Rep. Buzz Brockway; Georgia
State Rep. Wes Cantrell; Georgia State Rep. David Clark;
Georgia State Sen. David Shafer, President Pro Tem; Georgia
State Rep. B.J. Pak (Former); Georgia State Rep. Ed Setzler;
Georgia State Rep. Valencia Stovall; Kathy Lee Gifford; Gov.
Robert Bentley, Alabama; Gov. Douglas Ducey, Arizona; Gov.
Assa Hutchison, Arkansas; Gov. Rick Scott, Florida; Gov. Jeb
Bush, Former Governor of Florida; Gov. Edward Baza Calvo,
Guam; Gov. Bruce Rauner, Illinois; Gov. Eric Holcomb,
Indiana; Gov. Sam Brownback, Kansas; Gov. Matthew Bevin,
Kentucky; Gov. Paul LePage, Maine; Gov. Rick Snyder,
Michigan; Gov. Phil Bryant, Mississippi; Gov. Eric Greitens,
Missouri; Gov. Doug Burgman, North Dakota; Gov. Pete
Ricketts, Nebraska. Gov. Brian Sandoval, Nevada; Gov. Chris
Christie, New Jersey; Gov. Susana Martinez, New Mexico;
Gov. Ralph Torres, N. Mariana Islands.
Gov. John Kasich, Ohio; Gov. Mary Fallin, Oklahoma; Gov.
Bill Haslam, Tennessee; Gov. Greg Abbot, Texas; Gov. Scott
Walker, Wisconsin; Great Lakes Education Project; Grand
Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce; Grand Rapids City
Commissioner Dave Schaffer; Grand Rapids Public Schools
Superintendent Teresa Weatherall Neal; Great Schools for All
Children; Jim Griffin, Charter school advocate; Debbie
Groves, Teacher, Stonewall Jackson High School; Hawaii State
Rep. Gene Ward; Frederick Hess, Director of Education Policy
Studies, American Enterprise Institute; Hillsdale College,
President Larry Arnn; Hispanic CREA; Hispanics for School
Choice; Mark Hoduski, Teacher, Maranatha Academy; Home School
Legal Defense Association; Hope College, President Dr. John
Knapp; Hope College, Trustee Lisa Granger; Idaho Charter
School Network; Idaho State Rep. Scott Bedke, Speaker of the
House; Illinois State Rep. John Cabello; Independence
Institute; Independent Women's Voice; Indiana State Rep.
Robert Behning; Indiana State Rep. Brian Bosma, Speaker of
the House; Indiana State Sen. Brandt Hershman, Senate
Majority Leader; Indiana State Sen. David Long, President Pro
Tem; Institute for Better Education; Institute for Quality
Education; Invest in Education Coalition, President Thomas
Carroll; Invest in Education Foundation, Vice President Peter
Murphy; Investigative Project on Terrorism; Iowa State Rep.
Linda Upmeyer, Speaker of the House.
Jeffersonian Project; John Locke Foundation, Director of
Research and Education Studies Terry Stoops, Ph.D.; Kansas
Secretary of State Kris Kobach; Kansas State Sen. Susan
Wagle, Senate President; Kent County Commissioner Mandy
Bolter, Grand Rapids, MI; Kentucky State Sen. Robert Stivers,
Senate President; Kentucky State Sen. Ralph Alvarado;
Kentucky State Rep. Johnathan Shell, House Majority Leader;
Roger Kiney, Teacher, Burlington-Edison High School; Ken
Kreykes, Teacher, Chicago Christian School; The Libre
Initiative; Log Cabin Republicans; Louisiana Association of
Business and Industry; Louisiana Association of Charter
Schools; Louisiana Federation for Children; Louisiana State
Rep. Greg Cromer; Lt. Gov. Kay Ivey, Alabama; Lt. Gov. Tim
Griffin, Arkansas; Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds, Iowa; Lt. Gov.
Evelyn Sanguinetti, Illinois; Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch,
Indiana; Lt. Gov. Jeff Colyer, Kansas; Lt. Gov. Billy
Nungesser, Louisiana; Lt. Gov. Brian Calley, Michigan; Lt.
Gov. Tate Reeves, Mississippi; Lt. Gov. Dan Forest, North
Carolina; Lt. Gov. Mike Foley, Nebraska; Lt. Gov, John
Sanchez, New Mexico; Lt. Gov. Mark Hutchinson, Nevada; Lt.
Gov. Todd Lamb, Oklahoma; Lt. Gov. Rebecca Klefisch,
Wisconsin; MacIver Institute; Mackinac Center for Public
Policy; Macomb County Commissioner Leon Drolet, Macomb, MI;
Maggie's List.
Maine State Sen. Michael Thibodeau, Senate President; Maine
State Sen. Andre Cushing, Senate Assistant Majority Leader;
Maryland State Sen. Stephen Hershey, Jr.; Maryland State Sen.
Michael Hough; Maryland House Rep. Nic Kipke, House
Republican Leader; Maryland House Rep. Kathy Szeliga;
Massachusetts House Rep. Keiko M. Orrall; Metropolitan
Milwaukee Association of Commerce; Metropolitan State
University--Denver, Professor Kishore Kulkarni; Michigan
Association of Non-Public Schools; Michigan Association of
Public School Academies; Michigan Chamber of Commerce;
Michigan Catholic Conference; Michigan Council of Charter
School Authorizers; Michigan Republican National Committee
(RNC) Member, Kathy Berden; Michigan Republican State
Committee Member, Beverly Bodem; Michigan Republican Party,
Former Chair Suzy Avery; Michigan Secretary of State Ruth
Johnson; Michigan State Board of Education Co-President Dr.
Richard Zeile; Michigan State Board of Education Member,
Eileen Lappin Weiser; Michigan State Rep. Laura Cox; Michigan
State Rep. Daniela Garcia, Assistant Majority Floor Leader;
Michigan State Rep. Brandt Iden; Michigan State Rep. Klint
Kesto; Michigan State Rep. Tom Leonard, Speaker of the House;
Michigan State Rep. Aric Nesbitt (Former); Michigan State
Rep. Amanda Price, Education Committee Chair; Michigan State
Rep. Mary Whiteford; Michigan State Rep. Ken Yonkers;
Michigan State Sen. Mike Green; Michigan State Sen. Peter
MacGregor; Michigan State Sen. Michelle McManus (Former);
Michigan State Sen. Arlan Meekhof, Senate Majority Leader;
Michigan State Sen. Mike Shirkey; Michigan State Sen. Jim
Stamas; Michigan State Sen. Phil Pavlov.
Michigan State University Board of Trustees, Chairperson
Brian Breslin; Michigan State University Board of Trustees,
Trustee Melanie Foster; Military Child Education Coalition;
Military Families for High Standards; Military Officers
Association of America (MOAA); Minnesota State Sen. Paul
Gazelka, Senate Majority Leader; Minnesota State Rep. Kurt
Daudt, Speaker of the House; Mission: Readiness; The Missouri
Bar; Missouri Education Reform Council (MERC); Missouri State
Rep. Shamed Dogan; Missouri State Rep. Rebecca Roeber;
Montana State Rep. Ron Ehli, House Majority Leader; Montana
State Rep. Austin Knudsen, Speaker of the House; Montana
State Sen. Fred Thomas, Senate Majority Leader; Eva
Moskowitz, Founder of Success Academy Charter Schools;
National Alliance for Public Charter Schools; National Center
for Family Learning; National Heritage Academies, Grand
Rapids, MI; National Math + Science Initiative (NMSI);
National Military Family Association; Navy League of the
United States; Nevada State Assemblyman Paul Anderson,
Floor Leader; Nevada State Assemblyman Chris Edwards;
Nevada State Assemblyman John Ellison, Republican Whip;
Nevada State Assemblyman John Hambrick; Nevada State
Assemblyman Ira Hansen; Nevada State Assemblyman Al
Kramer; Nevada State Assemblyman Lisa Krasner; Nevada
State Assemblyman Jim Marchant; Nevada State Assemblyman
Richard McArthur; Nevada State Assemblyman James Oscarson,
Floor Leader; Nevada State Assemblyman Keith Pickard;
Nevada State Assemblyman Robin Titus; Nevada State
Assemblyman Jill Tolles; Nevada State Assemblyman Jim
Wheeler, Floor Leader.
Nevada State Assemblywoman Melissa Woodbury, Republican
Whip; Nevada State Sen. Don Gustason; Nevada State Sen. Scott
Hammond; Nevada State Sen. Joe Hardy; Nevada State Sen.
Michael Roberson, Senate Republican Leader; New Hampshire
State Rep. Victoria Sullivan, Member of Committee on
Education; New Hampshire State Sen. Andy Sanborn; New Jersey
State Rep. Sen Tom Kean, Senate Republican Leader; New Jersey
Tri-County Scholarship Fund; New Mexico State Rep. Alonzo
Baldonado, House Republican Whip; New Mexico State Rep. Nate
Gentry, House Republican Leader; New Mexico State Rep. Monica
Youngblood; New York State Catholic Conference; New York
State Sen. John Flanaga, Senate Majority Leader; North
Carolina Association of Public Charter Schools; North
Carolina State Rep. Pat McElraft, Deputy Majority Whip; North
Carolina State Sen. John Alexander; North Carolina State Sen.
Deanna Ballard; North Carolina State Sen. Chad Barefoot, Co-
Chair for Committee on Education; North Carolina State Sen.
Phil Berger, President Pro Tem; North Carolina State Sen.
Harry Brown, Majority Leader; North Carolina State Sen. Bill
Cook; North Carolina State Sen. David Curtis, Co-Chair for
Committee on Education; North Carolina State Sen. Cathy Dunn;
North Carolina State Sen. Kathy Harrington; North Carolina
State Sen. Brent Jackson; North Carolina State Sen. Joyce
Krawiec, Member, Committee on Education; North Carolina State
Sen. Michael Lee, Co-Chair, for Committee on Education; North
Carolina State Sen. Wesley Meredith, Majority Whip; North
Carolina State Sen. Paul Newton; North Carolina State Sen.
Ronald Rabin; North Carolina State Sen. Bill Rabon; North
Carolina State Sen. Norman Sanderson; North Carolina State
Sen. Tommy Tucker.
North Dakota State Rep. AL Carlson, House Majority Leader;
Northeast Charter Schools Network; Northwest Ohio Scholarship
Fund; Ohio State Rep. Niraj Antani; Ohio State Rep. Keith
Faber; Ohio State Rep. Cliff Rosenberger, Speaker of the
House; Oklahoma State Rep. Ryan Martinez; Oklahoma State Rep.
T.W. Shannon, Former Speaker of the House; O'More College of
Design, President David Matthew Rosen; Oregon State Rep.
Michael McLane, Republican Leader; Oregon State Sen. Ted
Ferrioli, Republican Leader; Oregon State Sen. Jackie
Winters; Secretary of Education Rod Paige; Parents for
Educational Freedom in North Carolina (PEFNC); Lawrence C.
Patrick, Former President of Detroit Board of Education;
Pennsylvania Coalition for Public Charter Schools;
Pennsylvania State Rep. David Reed, Majority Leader;
Pennsylvania State Rep. Mike Turzai, Speaker of the House;
Prep Net; Public School Options; Rachel and Drew Katz
Foundation; Ready Colorado; Reason Foundation; Rhode Island
State Rep. Patricia Morgan, House Republican Leader;
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice; Rio Grande Foundation;
Assistant Secretary of Labor Doug Ross; S4 Group; Kathleen
Shober, Teacher, McKaskey High School; School Choice
Wisconsin; SchoolForward; Secretary of Education Margaret
Spellings; Step Up; Student Leadership University; South
Carolina African American Chamber of Commerce; South Carolina
Secretary of State Mark Hammond.
South Carolina State Rep. Phyllis Henderson, House Majority
Whip; South Dakota State Rep. Brian Gosch (Former); South
Dakota State Rep. Kristin Langer, House Majority Whip;
Tarrent County College Professor Robert Sherwood; Tennessee
Federation for Children; Tennessee Secretary of State Tre
Hargett; Tennessee State Rep. Kevin Brooks; Tennessee State
Rep. Glen Casada; Tennessee State Rep. Michael Curcio;
Tennessee State Rep. Martin Daniel; Tennessee State Rep. John
DeBerry, Jr.;
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Tennessee State Rep. Tilman Goins; Tennessee State Rep. Andy
Holt; Tennessee State Rep. Dan Howell; Tennessee State Rep.
Sabi Kumar; Tennessee State Rep. Mark Lovell; Tennessee State
Rep. Pat Marsh; Tennessee State Rep. Jimmy Matlock; Tennessee
State Rep. Debra Moody; Tennessee State Rep. Dennis Powers;
Tennessee State Rep. Jay Reedy; Tennessee State Rep. Courtney
Rogers; Tennessee State Rep. Jerry Sexton; Tennessee State
Rep. Paul Sherrell; Tennessee State Rep. Eddie Smith;
Tennessee State Rep. Mike Sparks; Tennessee State Rep. Tim
Wirgau; Tennessee State Rep. Dawn White; Tennessee State Rep.
Mark White; Tennessee State Rep. Jason Zachary; Tennessee
State Sen. Mike Bell; Tennessee State Sen. Dolores Gresham;
Tennessee State Sen. Todd Gardenhire; Tennessee State Sen.
Ferrell Haile; Tennessee State Sen. Ed Jackson; Tennessee
State Sen. Brian Kelsey; Tennessee State Sen. Bill Ketron;
Tennessee State Sen. John Stevens; Tennessee State Sen. Jim
Tracy.
Texas Charter Schools Association; Texas for Education
Opportunity; Texas State Rep. Larry Gonzales; Thomas B.
Fordham Institute; Today and Tomorrow Educational Foundation;
Tomorrow's Hope Foundation; Union of Orthodox Jewish
Congregations of America; University of Louisville Associate
Professor Alexei Izyumov;
University of Michigan, President Emerita Mary Sue Coleman;
University of Michigan, Regent Andrew Fischer Newman;
University of Texas at Austin Professor Daniel Bonevac,
University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee Professor Shale
Horowitz; U.S. Chamber of Commerce; U.S. House Rep. Rick W.
Allen, Member of Education and Workforce Committee; U.S.
House Rep. Justin Amash; U.S. House Rep. Jack Bergman; U.S.
House Rep. Lou Barletta, Member of Education and Workforce
Committee; U.S. House Rep. Mike Bishop, Member of Education
and Workforce Committee; U.S. House Rep. Marsha Blackburn;
U.S. House Rep. Dave Brat, Member of Education and Workforce
Committee; U.S. House Rep. Bradley Byrne, Member of Education
and Workforce Committee; U.S. House Rep. Virginia Foxx, Chair
of Education and Workforce Committee; U.S. House Rep. Trent
Franks; U.S. House Rep. Louie Gohmert; U.S. House Rep. Glenn
Grothman, Member of Education and Workforce Committee; U.S.
House Rep. Andy Harris; U.S. House Rep. Bill Huizenga; U.S.
House Rep. Duncan Hunter, Member of Education and Workforce
Committee; U.S. House Rep. Steve King; U.S. House Rep. Jason
Lewis, Member of Education and Workforce Committee.
U.S. House Rep. Blaine Luetkerneyer; U.S. House Rep. Luke
Messer, Member of Education and Workforce Committee; U.S.
House Rep. Paul Mitchell, Member of Education and Workforce
Committee; U.S. House Rep. John Moolenaar; U.S. House Rep.
Aumua Amata Coleman Radewagen; U.S. House Rep. James B.
Renacci; U.S. House Rep. Todd Rokita, Member of. Education
and Workforce Committee; U.S. House Rep. Francis Rooney,
Member of Education and Workforce Committee; U.S. House Rep.
Dave Trott; U.S. House Rep. Fred Upton; U.S. House Rep. Tim
Walberg, Member of Education and Workforce Committee; U.S.
House Rep. Joe Wilson, Member of Education and Workforce
Committee; U.S. House Rep. Ted S. Yoho, DVM; Former U.S.
House Rep. Dave Camp (MI); Former U.S. House Rep. Pete
Hoekstra (MI); Former U.S. House Rep. Mike Rogers (MI); Utah
State Rep. Kim Coleman; Utah State Rep. Greg Hughes, Speaker
of the House; Utah State Sen. Todd Weiler; Valencia College,
President Dr. Sanford Shugart; Vermont State Rep. Don Turner,
House Republican Leader; Virginia State Del. Bill Howell,
Speaker of the House.
Virginia State Sen. Ryan McDouble, Chair of Senate
Republican Caucus; Virginia Tech Professor Ken Stiles;
Washington and Lee University Professor Robert Dean;
Washington State Sen. Mark Schoesler, Senate Majority Leader;
Tom Watkins, former Michigan State Superintendent of Schools;
Wayne State University, Board of Governors Member David
Nicholson; Ronald Weiser, Former U.S. Ambassador to Slovakia;
West Virginia State Rep. Eric Nelson, Chair of House
Republican Caucus; West Virginia State Rep. Jill Upson,
Member of Committee on Education; Anthony Williams, Former
Mayor of Washington, DC; Wisconsin Assemblywoman Jessie
Rodriguez; Wisconsin Assemblyman Robin Vos, Speaker of the
House; Wisconsin Federation for Children; Wisconsin Institute
for Law and Liberty; Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce;
Wisconsin State Rep. Jessie Rodriguez; Wisconsin State Sen.
Scott Fitzgerald, Senate Majority Leader; Wisconsin State
Sen. Leah Vukmir, Assistant Majority Leader; Kenneth Witt,
Former President, Jefferson County Board of Education;
Cardinal Donald Wuerl, Archbishop of Washington DC; Wyoming
State Rep. Steven Harshman, Speaker of the House; Wyoming
State Sen. Eli Bebout, Senate President; Young America's
Foundation.
Mr. ALEXANDER. Mr. President, was there not enough time to question
her? I wonder. We treated her just like we did President Obama's
Education Secretaries. She offered to meet with the Democrats in
December. They refused. She finally met with them in their offices.
Then she testified for 90 minutes longer than either of President
Obama's Education Secretaries before our committees.
Then there were followup questions. We asked President Obama's
Education Secretaries 53 and 56 questions; they asked her 1,400
questions. Then they met, and one of their Members announced that they
all agreed to vote against her before she had a chance to answer the
questions. What does that say about those questions?
She has conflicts of interest? We have a procedure for that, an
independent conflicts of interest office, the Office of Government
Ethics. The head was appointed by President Obama, confirmed by the
Senate. He has an agreement with every Cabinet member about conflicts
of interest. He wrote a letter to us 8 days before we voted on her and
said she would have no conflict of interest if she followed this
agreement.
So plenty of time for questions, no conflict of interest. What is the
problem?
One, her support for public charter schools. Some people don't like
that. But 2.7 million children attend them. They were founded by the
Democratic Farmer-Labor Party in Minnesota. They have now grown to
6,800 schools. They are the most effective public school reform in 30
years.
School choice. What is wrong with giving low-income Americans more
choice and better schools? We have done it since the GI bill from
1944--taxpayer money following veteran students to Notre Dame, Yeshiva,
Harvard, the National Auto Diesel College. Has it hurt the public
universities, of which I used to be President of one? It has helped
them. Then, more people went to private schools, and now more people go
to public colleges.
Betsy DeVos has committed to no more Washington mandates. No more
national school board, no Washington mandates for vouchers, no
Washington mandates for common core, no Washington mandates for
specific kinds of teacher evaluations with Betsy DeVos in charge of the
Department of Education.
One year ago, we had no Education Secretary. I asked President Obama
to appoint one, even though I knew he would appoint John King, with
whom I disagreed. I promised that if he did, we would promptly confirm
him, and we did. We asked him 53 questions, not 1,397. We didn't say he
had conflicts of interest when the Office of Government Ethics said he
did not.
I know my friends are surprised about the election, but wouldn't they
be really surprised if he appointed someone from within the education
establishment to be the Secretary of Education? Wouldn't you be
surprised that a Republican President would be for charter schools? Are
you really surprised that a Republican President has appointed an
Education Secretary who wants to give low-income children more choices
of schools? Are you surprised that a Republican President has nominated
an Education Secretary who wants to reverse the trend to a national
school board and restore local control?
I am supporting her because she wants to do that, because she has led
the most effective--
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator has used 4\1/2\ minutes.
Mr. ALEXANDER. Thank you, Mr. President.
She has led the most effective public school reform movement over the
last 30 years and she has a commitment to help low-income children.
I would say to my Democratic colleagues, we confirmed President
Obama's first Education Secretary in 7 days--on the day he was
inaugurated; his second one in 3 weeks, just as we will Betsy DeVos
today. You may disagree with the new President, but the people elected
him, and I urge you to give the new Republican President the
opportunity to choose his own Education Secretary, just like we did
with the Democratic President 8 years ago and a year ago, even though
we disagreed just as much with their view on Federal policy on local
schools as you do with her policy and President Trump's policy on
school choice.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator has used 5 minutes.
Mr. ALEXANDER. Mr. President, I urge a ``yes'' vote.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from South Carolina.
Mr. SCOTT. Mr. President, as we close this debate on Betsy DeVos,
this debate should really be about public
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education. I support public education. Education is the closest thing
to magic in America. Let me say again that again. Education is the
closest thing to magic in America. I experienced that magic.
As a kid growing up in a single-parent household, mired in poverty,
disillusioned about life, I nearly flunked out as a freshman. I thank
God for public education. But far too many kids--too many millions of
kids today--do not have a quality educational choice in their
communities. And what does that mean? There is a high correlation
between incarceration, high unemployment, and lower lifetime incomes
for those students who do not have quality public education.
This Nation--the greatest Nation on Earth--has afforded a kid who
almost dropped out of high school to become a U.S. Senator. Why?
Because I found a path that included public education, and quality
public education.
So what does it look like in some of our cities? Let me give my
colleagues an example from Detroit. Only 9 percent of African-American
kids meet standards for English. Thirteen percent of White kids meet
standards or exceed standards in English, and 12.5 percent of Hispanic
kids meet or exceed standards in English in Detroit. We need to make
sure that every child in every ZIP Code has a quality choice.
The Secretary of Education cannot--cannot--privatize education. That
would take an act of Congress.
So, yes, we should have a passionate debate about education, and yes,
we should make sure--make sure--that the focus of that debate is on the
kid.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Tillis). The Senator's time has expired.
prayer
Pursuant to rule IV, paragraph 2, the hour of 12 noon having arrived,
the Senate having been in continuous session since yesterday, the
Senate will suspend for a prayer from the Senate Chaplain.
The Chaplain, Dr. Barry C. Black, offered the following prayer:
Let us pray.
God of mercy and light, we are in Your hands, and we rejoice because
of the power of Your presence. Do with us what seems good in Your
sight.
Lord, in the welter and variety of decisionmaking, with its
alternating and fluctuating intricacies, give our lawmakers a deeper
appreciation for a conscience void of offense toward You or humanity.
Today, show mercy to the Members of this legislative body. Let Your
sovereign hand be over them and Your Holy Spirit ever be with them,
directing all their thoughts, words, and works for Your glory. Lord,
prosper the labors of their hands, enabling them in due season to reap
a bountiful harvest if they faint not.
We pray in Your merciful Name. Amen.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. All postcloture time having expired, the
question is, Will the Senate advise and consent to the DeVos
nomination?
Mr. DURBIN. I ask for the yeas and nays.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
There appears to be a sufficient second.
The clerk will call the roll.
The senior assistant legislative clerk called the roll.
The result was announced--yeas 50, nays 50, as follows:
[Rollcall Vote No. 54 Ex.]
YEAS--50
Alexander
Barrasso
Blunt
Boozman
Burr
Capito
Cassidy
Cochran
Corker
Cornyn
Cotton
Crapo
Cruz
Daines
Enzi
Ernst
Fischer
Flake
Gardner
Graham
Grassley
Hatch
Heller
Hoeven
Inhofe
Isakson
Johnson
Kennedy
Lankford
Lee
McCain
McConnell
Moran
Paul
Perdue
Portman
Risch
Roberts
Rounds
Rubio
Sasse
Scott
Sessions
Shelby
Sullivan
Thune
Tillis
Toomey
Wicker
Young
NAYS--50
Baldwin
Bennet
Blumenthal
Booker
Brown
Cantwell
Cardin
Carper
Casey
Collins
Coons
Cortez Masto
Donnelly
Duckworth
Durbin
Feinstein
Franken
Gillibrand
Harris
Hassan
Heinrich
Heitkamp
Hirono
Kaine
King
Klobuchar
Leahy
Manchin
Markey
McCaskill
Menendez
Merkley
Murkowski
Murphy
Murray
Nelson
Peters
Reed
Sanders
Schatz
Schumer
Shaheen
Stabenow
Tester
Udall
Van Hollen
Warner
Warren
Whitehouse
Wyden
The VICE PRESIDENT. On this vote, the yeas are 50, the nays are 50.
The Senate being equally divided, the Vice President votes in the
affirmative, and the nomination is confirmed.
The majority leader.
Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote on the
confirmation.
The VICE PRESIDENT. The question is on the motion to reconsider.
Mr. McCONNELL. I move to table the motion to reconsider.
The VICE PRESIDENT. The question is on agreeing to the motion to
table.
The motion was agreed to.
____________________