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Betsy DeVos, Donald Trump’s pick for education secretary, got a high-speed, abbreviated confirmation hearing thanks to Republicans presumably wanting to protect her from embarrassment of the sort she managed anyway, with her defense of guns in schools because of “potential grizzlies.” Now, Senate Democrats are pushing for a second hearing for DeVos:
“Education is too important an issue, and the Secretary of Education is too important a position for the country and for this Committee, to jam a nominee through without sufficient questioning and scrutiny,” they wrote to Alexander in a letter Monday. “This is not about politics, it should not be about partisanship — it should be about doing the work we were elected 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 DeVos’s confirmation.
Lamar Alexander, the Republican chair of the HELP committee, responded that “Betsy DeVos’s hearing on Tuesday was three and a half hours, about an hour and a half longer than either of the hearings for President Obama’s two education secretaries. The Democrats are making up excuses because they can’t find better reasons to oppose the nominees.” To which I say “potential grizzlies,” Lamar. That’s a reason.
Other reasons: DeVos refused to say she’d maintain funding for public schools. She seemingly didn’t know what the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act is, and that federal law protects students with disabilities. Her favored privatization programs hurt students with disabilities. Her financial disclosure raised some eyebrows. She has no education experience, unlike Obama’s education secretaries (who were among his worst appointments, but did at least have experience). These are reasons to oppose Betsy DeVos, but if they’re not good enough for you … shoot, give her another couple hours. Maybe she’ll argue that poison in schools is good because it might prevent bees.