DeVos in as education chief; Pence breaks first-ever tie vote on Cabinet nomination

WASHINGTON -- The Senate confirmed Betsy DeVos on Tuesday as education secretary, approving the nominee only with the help of a tiebreaking vote from Vice President Mike Pence.

The 51-50 vote elevates DeVos -- a wealthy donor from Michigan who has devoted much of her life to expanding educational choice through charter schools and vouchers but has limited experience with the public school system -- to be steward of the nation's schools.

Two Republicans voted against DeVos' confirmation.

Hours later, DeVos was sworn in by Pence, who told the new Cabinet member: "I wasn't just voting for you. Having seen your devotion to improving the quality of education for some of our most vulnerable children across the nation for so many years, I was also casting a vote for America's children.

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"I can tell you, my vote for Betsy DeVos was the easiest vote I ever cast," Pence said.

DeVos released a statement promising to be "a tireless advocate for all students."

"Partnering with students, parents, educators, state and local leaders, Congress and all stakeholders, we will improve education options and outcomes across America," she said.

It was the first time that a vice president has been summoned to the Capitol to break a tie on a Cabinet nomination, according to the Senate historian. Taking the gavel as the vote deadlocked at 50-50, Pence, a former member of the House, declared his vote for DeVos before announcing that Trump's nominee for education secretary had been confirmed.

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The two Republicans who voted against the nominee, Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, announced their opposition to her last week. In back-to-back floor speeches, the lawmakers said DeVos was unqualified because of a lack of familiarity with public schools and with laws meant to protect students, despite her passion for helping them.

Collins and Murkowski said they had also been influenced by the thousands of messages they had received urging them to reject the nomination.

Arkansas' two senators, Republicans John Boozman and Tom Cotton, both supported DeVos' confirmation.

For many in the education community, DeVos' full-throated support for charter schools and vouchers -- which allow students to use taxpayer dollars to pay tuition at private, religious and for-profit schools -- is emblematic of a disconnection from the realities of the education system. Neither DeVos nor any of her children attended a public school. Of note, she has never taken out a federal student loan; she will head a department that is the country's largest provider of student loans.

Despite objections to DeVos from teachers unions and even some charter organizations that typically oppose them, opponents nonetheless fell shy of defeating her nomination. Most Republicans described her as committed and determined to put what is best for children above all else.

In a speech moments before the vote, Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., a former education secretary, criticized his Democratic colleagues for opposing DeVos, accusing them of opposing her because she was nominated by a Republican president.

Alexander, chairman of the committee that approved DeVos' nomination last week in a straight, party-line split, said she had been "at the forefront" of education overhaul for decades.

"She has been a leader in the movement for public charter schools -- the most successful reform of public education during the last 30 years," said Alexander. "And she has worked tirelessly to help low-income children have more choices of better schools."

In addition to DeVos, Republicans hope to confirm a series of other divisive nominees this week: Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., as attorney general; Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga., as health secretary; and financier Steven Mnuchin as treasury secretary.

Opposition to labor nominee Andrew Puzder; Rep. Mick Mulvaney, R-S.C., tapped to lead the Office of Management and Budget; and Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt to lead the Environmental Protection Agency remains firm, but the final whip count is less certain, aides said Monday. Votes on those nominees are not scheduled for a few more weeks. Puzder has not yet been scheduled for a confirmation hearing.

'Negative trifecta'

Lacking the votes to block DeVos, Democrats realized there was little they could do. Having exhausted every legislative option to slow consideration of her nomination, Democrats had a Senate floor protest in the final 24 hours before her confirmation vote, coming to the Senate floor throughout the night and into the morning to reiterate their objections.

"Betsy DeVos is the negative trifecta," Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said in a floor speech. "Negative on competence -- she doesn't even understand the basic aspects of education. Negative on philosophy -- she disdains public education where 90 percent of our kids are. And negative on ethics -- her conflicts of interest are legion and she hasn't, like some other Cabinet nominees, tried to erase them."

And though they spoke mostly to a chamber empty but for a handful of clerks, pages and other staff members, Democrats pressed their absent Republican colleagues to join them, hoping for an eleventh-hour defection that would derail DeVos' nomination.

Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, the top Democrat on the committee that approved DeVos -- and a former educator herself -- urged disheartened colleagues and advocates on Tuesday morning not to think of their efforts as a waste.

"It's made an impact here and made a difference," she said. "And I think it's woken each of us up in this country to what we value and what we want."

Shortly after DeVos' confirmation, Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, a union that protested the nomination, said the public would now have to "serve as a check and balance" to her policies and be "fierce fighters on behalf of children."

"It's telling that even when Trump had full control of the legislative and executive branches, he could only get DeVos confirmed by an unprecedented tie-breaking vote by his vice president," Weingarten said. "That's because DeVos shows an antipathy for public schools, a full-throttled embrace of private, for-profit alternatives, and a lack of basic understanding of what children need to succeed in school."

While they may have lost the fight against her confirmation, many advocates said they would continue to fight DeVos as she serves as education secretary. Some vowed to demonstrate at her public appearances at forums and schools and to seek public candidates friendly to their view to run for local office.

Lily Eskelsen Garcia, president of the National Education Association, said her union would tap into the vast database of advocates it had built during DeVos' confirmation process to help keep her in check.

"As soon as she does something alarming, it will be known, it will be seen," she said. "She won't be able to hide."

Trump's choice of DeVos to lead the Department of Education, the smallest of the Cabinet agencies, presented senators with a series pitfalls. Her background as a prolific Republican fundraiser who has donated about $200 million over the years to Republican causes and candidates -- including some senators, as has been the case for previous presidential nominees -- came under scrutiny.

Democrats also have expressed concern about her family's contributions to groups that support so-called conversion therapy for gay people and her past statements that government "sucks" and that public schools are a "dead end." Opponents have also focused on the poor performance of charter schools in Detroit, which she championed.

Senators and education advocates from both sides of the aisle also expressed alarm after DeVos, during her Jan. 17 confirmation hearing, confused core responsibilities of the Department of Education.

In one notable exchange that spread across the Internet, Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., asked DeVos whether all schools that receive public money should have to follow the requirements of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, the 1975 civil-rights legislation. Under that federal law, states and school districts are required to provide special education services to children with disabilities.

DeVos said the issue was "best left to the states."

"It was the most embarrassing confirmation hearing that I have ever seen," Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., said before the vote Tuesday. He demanded that Republicans explain how they could still support her.

"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?" Franken asked.

In a final push that included demonstrations around the country, constituents and advocates swamped Senate offices with calls and missives, so inundating the Capitol switchboard that it disrupted the Senate's voice-mail system.

Information for this article was contributed by Emmarie Huetteman, Yamiche Alcindor, Dana Goldstein of The New York Times; by Elise Viebeck and Ed O'Keefe of The Washington Post; and by Maria Danilova of The Associated Press.

A Section on 02/08/2017