Betsy Devos

A Guide To The Second Week Of Confirmation Hearings

... hurt public schools and low-income students. WEDNESDAY, JAN. 18. Billionaire investor Wilbur Ross, chairman of WL Ross & Co. departs Trump Tower after a meeting with President-elect Donald Trump. Photo by Lucas Jackson/Reuters. WHO: Wilbur Ross, Trump’s nominee for commerce secretary. WHEN: Wednesday, 10 a.m. ET. Watch the hearing here. WHAT TO EXPECT: The billionaire investor and “king of bankruptcy” is known for buying up companies in financial distress. Ross initially made his name restructuring steel and coal businesses. He now heads WL Ross and Co., a private equity firm. Trump was also one of Ross’ clients back in 1990 when his Taj Mahal casino faced bankruptcy. As one of the casino’s bondholders, Ross initially pushed for the Atlantic City business to go into forced bankruptcy, but then reversed his position during the monthslong negotiations, the New York Post reported. In 2015, Ross signed a letter in support of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a favorite Trump target during the 2016 election. However, the investor has since been a vocal opponent to trade deals, CNN Money reported. File photo of Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga., by Joshua Roberts/Reuters. WHO: ...

At Devos' Senate Hearing, Questions Of Choice, Charters, 'other Options

... "on our childrens' side.". Also on De Vos' side: former senator Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, who introduced her and swung back at teachers unions and others who oppose her, in part, because the billionaire has never taught in, managed or attended a public school. In Lieberman's words, it's a positive that she's not part of the "education establishment.". "Honestly, I believe that today that's one of the most important qualifications you could have for this job," he said. The committee's Democrats were frustrated not just with some of De Vos' answers, but also with Chairman Alexander — first because he chose to hold the hearing before the Office of Government Ethics could finish its review of her financial holdings, looking for conflicts of interest, and second because Alexander held senators to a strict, five-minute ...

Betsy Devos Faces Tough Questions From Sanders, Warren

... the plan. De Vos dodged a question by Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wa.) about whether she would commit to keep funding for public schools intact, and wasn't let off the hook by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who brought up the fact that De Vos has "no personal experience with college financial aid or with management of higher education.". Obama Care popularity hits record high. An NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll released Tuesday shows that Obama Care has never been more popular than it is right now — as it teeters on the precipice of repeal. Republicans have passed the first hurdle toward repealing President Obama's signature health care law, and President-elect Donald Trump, who takes the oath of office Friday, has promised to repeal the law and replace it potentially within the "same hour." But the poll ...

Betsy Devos Will Empower Latino Families, Not Bureaucrats

... the Latino electorate will ever become the political powerhouse most grassroots Latinos have been claiming is inevitable since 2008. According to Pew Research Center, at 44 percent, millennials (ages 18-34) are the largest voting bloc of eligible Latino voters, and the median age of an American born Latino is only nineteen years old (47 percent are under the age of eighteen). It’s not a matter of if Latinos will ever come of political age but when Latinos actually come of political age. When that time arrives, Latino voters likely won't be as concerned with party affiliation and partisan rhetoric as much as they will be about what has been done for their families. There are some well-intentioned people who think Mrs. De Vos is insensitive to the plight of poor families who they believe are “incapable” of making good educational ...

Betsy Devos, Donald Trump, Mh370, Pulse

... talk" after Lewis questioned the legitimacy of Trump's election. Martin Luther King III downplayed the slight , saying that "in the heat of emotion a lot of things get said on both sides." But the timing of the attack was particularly unfortunate for Trump. Meanwhile, Alec Baldwin played Trump again on “Saturday Night Live” after the show’s holiday hiatus. Watch it here. Turkish Officials: Gunman Captured. Turkish police captured the gunman who carried out the deadly New Year's nightclub attack in Istanbul, with officials saying Tuesday that he's an Uzbekistan national who trained in Afghanistan and confessed to the massacre. Prime Minister Binali Yildirim told reporters in Ankara that the man was being questioned by police. Istanbul’s governor said the man, captured late Monday, confessed to carrying out the massacre and that his fingerprints matched those of the attacker. Search for Flight MH 370 Ends. After ...

Betsy Devos Confirmation Hearing

... in Michigan. Chip Somodevilla, Getty Images. Betsy De Vos, President-elect Donald Trump's pick to be the next secretary of education, greets Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander before her confirmation hearing in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill on Jan. 17, 2017 in Washington, D. C. De Vos is known for her advocacy of school choice and education voucher programs and was a longtime leader of the Republican Party in Michigan. Chip Somodevilla, Getty Images. Betsy De Vos, President-elect Donald Trump's pick to be the next secretary of education, prepares to testify during her confirmation hearing with former Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Connecticut, before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill, Jan. 17, 2017 in Washington, D. C. De Vos is known for her advocacy of school choice and education voucher programs and was a longtime ...

Nyc Mayor Says Would-be Education Secretary Betsy Devos’s Voucher Plans Won’t Get Far

... on Career and Technical Education programs, universal prekindergarten and its social studies curriculum. She also said that the city’s social studies curriculum, which went out this year, has just been adopted by the U. S. Department of Defense as the curriculum to be used internationally. “Our job is to keep our eye on the ball, to keep focused on what we’re doing and then I always love the fact that there are bureaucracies and bureaucracies have a lot of stop gaps along the way,” Fariña said, referring to the federal bureaucracy. “So I thank god for bureaucracy when it comes to New York City right now.”. United Federation of Teachers President Michael Mulgrew, however, bluntly blasted De Vos as having a strictly business philosophy rather than an educational one, noting that her whole career has been about removing funding from public schools. “She does not believe in neighborhood public schools,” Mulgrew said. “She believes that education should have no accountability and anyone who wants to open a school and ...

Betsy Devos Appears Before Senate Education Committee In Confirmation Hearing

... most controversially, she's a big supporter of vouchers which let parents pay for tuition at private schools and even religious schools using public school dollars. And that led to this exchange this evening - earlier this evening with Democratic Senator Patty Murray. (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING). PATTY MURRAY: Can you commit to us tonight that you will not work to privatize public schools or cut a single penny from public education. DEVOS: Senator, thanks for that question. I look forward, if confirmed, to working with you to talk about how we address the needs of all parents and all students. TURNER: De Vos went on to say that not all schools serve the needs of the kids who are assigned to them but that she hopes she can find some common ground with those who disagree with her views on school choice, to which Murray said this. (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING). MURRAY: I take that as not being willing to commit to not privatizing public schools or cutting money from education. DEVOS: Well, I guess I wouldn't characterize it in that way. MURRAY: Well, (laughter) OK. SIEGEL: Now, Cory, Congress passed a bipartisan federal education law just over a year ago. Even if ...