Betsy Devos

Senate Democrats Vow To Review Betsy Devos Plagiarism Allegations Before Full Vote

... Betsy De Vos, who will serve the Department of Education and our nation’s children with distinction if confirmed,” said Goad, who sits on the White House Domestic Policy Council, in a statement. The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions voted two times 12-11, along party lines, to approve her nomination. The second vote came after Democrats called for a procedural move to require another and move it to next week. That delay effort failed. Despite clearing a key procedural hurtle, De Vos’ eventual confirmation by the full Senate remained an open question as members of her own party told CNN wouldn’t commit to voting for her. Sen. Lisa Murkowski said she had been inundated with calls from Alaskans raising concerns about De Vos, but said she would support her in the committee vote out of deference to the president. “Do note, she has not yet earned my full support. … I would not advise yet that she count on my vote,” Murkowski said. Sen. Al Franken, a Minnesota Democrat, noted Senate Democrats are focusing their efforts on grilling De Vos. “I don’t think we should vote en masse against every nominee … This is ...

Democrats Request Another Hearing For Devos, Trump’s Education Pick, Before Confirmation Vote

... by our states to do to ask questions of nominees on behalf of the people we represent.”. Those signing the letter included 10 Democrats and Sen. Bernie Sanders, the Vermont independent who caucuses with Democrats. They are all members of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP), which is overseeing De Vos’s confirmation. [ De Vos lauded as bold reformer, called unfit for the job ]. Democrats complained when Alexander, chairman of the HELP committee, limited each member of the committee to one five-minute round of questioning during De Vos’s first hearing, on Jan. 17. Alexander was resolute at the time, and one of his aides said Monday that he will not hold another hearing for De Vos. “Betsy De Vos has already met with each committee member in their offices, spent nearly an hour and a half longer in her Senate hearing than either of President Obama’s education secretaries, and is now answering 837 written questions — 1,397 including all the questions within a question — that Democrats have submitted for her to ...

Senate Committee Advances Betsy Devos' Nomination

... Committee on Tuesday agreed to send to President Donald Trump's nominee for education secretary, billionaire philanthropist Betsy De Vos, to the full chamber for confirmation, but comments ahead of the vote show De Vos faces choppy waters ahead. The committee chairman, Republican Lamar Alexander, acted as the tie-breaker for advancing the nomination to the next and final step of the confirmation process after all 11 Republicans on the panel voted for Devos and all 11 Democrats voted against her. Two Republicans - Maine's Susan Collins and Alaska's Lisa Murkowski - expressed grave misgivings about the charter school advocate's limited experience with public schools. They said they voted yes only so the entire Senate can debate if De Vos is the right fit. Murkowski said she may not support De Vos in the Senate vote. Meanwhile, Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee exploited Senate rules to delay until Wednesday a vote on Sen. Jeff Sessions' nomination to be attorney general. That job was in the spotlight after Trump fired the acting attorney general on Monday over her refusal to defend his executive order ...

Betsy Devos Appears To Have Plagiarized Quote

... about the merits of the complaint," De Vos wrote in response to a question about publishing the list of schools under Title IX investigations. The Department of Education guidance reads , "Opening a complaint for investigation in no way implies that OCR has made a determination with regard to the merits of the complaint.". De Vos is one of a handful of Trump cabinet nominees that Senate Democrats believe they have a chance of upending. In the hearing earlier this month, De Vos agreed that Trump described sexual assault in a leaked hot mic video from a 2005 entertainment show and turned a discussion of guns in schools turned on grizzly bears. She also appeared at times unaware of federal law governing education and admitted to a "clerical error" that left her as a vice president on her mother's foundation for nearly two decades. She is also not the first Trump staffing pick to face plagiarism allegations since the President's election. Conservative author Monica Crowley stepped away from her appointment to a senior communications role in Trump's then-incoming ...

Senate Panel Delays Vote On Budget Nominee

... leaders and Democrats say Puzder is ill-suited to head the Cabinet agency that enforces protections for workers. Puzder is against much of their agenda, including a big hike in the minimum wage. Trump nominated Puzder on Dec. 9. 1:25 p.m. Democrats are using an obscure Senate rule to delay the committee vote on attorney general nominee Jeff Sessions. After Democratic senators on the Senate Judiciary Committee gave lengthy speeches opposing Sessions for several hours Tuesday, chairman Charles Grassley said the vote will be delayed until Wednesday. Sessions is expected to be approved by the panel. By giving lengthy speeches, Democrats are able to trigger a rule that doesn't allow committees to be in session for two hours past the start of the Senate day. That rule is generally waived. In their speeches, Democrats questioned whether the Alabama Republican could be independent of President Donald Trump as the nation's chief law ...

No Democrat Will Vote For Betsy Devos As Education Secretary

... raise questions about whether the superintendent is too closely tied to De Vos. [ Hundreds of students, alumni from De Vos’s Christian college oppose her nomination as education secretary ]. The committee is scheduled to vote on her nomination on Tuesday, Jan. 31, a week later than originally scheduled. Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) moved the date after Democrats demanded more time to ask her questions after her confirmation hearing performance. He declined a Democratic request for a second hearing. Franken told Maddow that Senate Democrats held a recent retreat to talk about strategy for dealing with Trump’s Cabinet nominees, though he declined to say what it was. He did say that De Vos was one of the nominations that would receive strong Democratic opposition. He did not specifically say whether ...

Devos Will Restore Due Process On Campus Assault

... texting a friend her plan that “ Imgoingtohave sex now.” A James Madison student sued after his school allowed an appeals board to use evidence that he never saw — and that turned out to be inaccurate — to overturn a well-justified not-guilty finding by the university’s original panel. Given the increasing need for the courts to check campus attacks on due process, the new administration should appoint judges who will enforce due process rather than blindly deferring to campus sex bureaucrats. The larger task of protecting innocent students from the thousands of campus and federal sex bureaucrats who have been put in place, and from the egregiously unfair rules that they have adopted, and from the ascendant culture of presuming guilt, calls for sustained effort not only by the new administration but also by Congress, state governments, academics who care about civil liberties, trustees, parents, alumni and students. KC Johnson and Stuart Taylor Jr. are co-authors of a new book, The Campus Rape Frenzy : The Attack on Due Process at America’s Universities. You ...

Six Astonishing Things Betsy Devos Said

... protect waste, fraud and abuse from for-profit universities, citing Trump University, which President-elect Donald Trump founded; he ultimately paid $25 million to settle lawsuits by students who said they were cheated. Trump said he paid the money so he could focus on getting ready to run the country. De Vos said, “If confirmed, I will certainly be very vigilant.” Warren persisted, “I’m asking how.” When De Vos said “individuals with whom” she will work in the department will ensure that federal money is properly used, Warren further dug in, and then explained to De Vos that there is actually a group of rules already on the books, the gainful employment regulations. “All you have to do is enforce then,” Warren said, asking De Vos if she would do so. She wouldn’t commit. The gainful employment regulations are meant to protect students and taxpayers by withholding federal ...