Campaign Action
Hmmm. Are congressional Republicans trying to bury this one? The confirmation hearing for Betsy DeVos, Donald Trump’s education nominee, is now being held at 5 PM ET after having first been pushed back by a week. Not only that, the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions has another hearing scheduled for 10 AM ET Wednesday.
An abbreviated hearing would reflect DeVos’s knowledge of her subject matter—she has never taught in, attended, or sent her kids to a public school—but then again, ignorance might be a reason to ask her some questions to establish just how little she understands about education. If she’s honest, she’ll admit that she knows all she wants to: how to use personal wealth to undermine education for millions of kids.
DeVos has used her money to shape the Michigan education system, pushing privatization and undermining local public schools. The result: increased segregation and declining school quality. In Detroit, teachers had to fight to draw attention to rodents, moldy food, and crumbling buildings. DeVos has accumulated a frighteningly anti-LGBT record in her personal giving. The DeVos-influenced years in Michigan education have been a disaster.
Betsy DeVos needs to face serious questioning in her quest to make America Michigan. Democrats cannot let the fact that the hearing is buried in the evening hours stop them from asking those questions—and asking again and again when she dodges.