Betsy DeVos with bonus creepy looming Trump

Donald Trump’s least qualified Cabinet pick moved a step closer to confirmation early Friday morning. Betsy DeVos passed her cloture vote in the Senate’s 6:30 AM session and will get a final vote early next week. That final vote is our target, and the next few days are our chance to stop DeVos. One more Republican vote is all it will take.

The procedural move, approved in a 52-48 vote, sets DeVos up for what will likely be a very narrow confirmation vote Monday or Tuesday. Republican U.S. Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska voted for the motion Friday but have said they will vote against DeVos’ final nomination. If any additional Republicans defect and reject President Donald Trump’s pick for education secretary, DeVos’ nomination could fail. If no Democrats break party ranks to support her, Vice President Mike Pence may need to cast a tie-breaker vote.

Collins and Murkowski reportedly announced their intention to vote no after making sure that there were enough votes for DeVos without them … but that’s a challenge to rise to, not a reason to give up. (And a reason to remember that Susan Collins is terrible and should never get credit as a “reasonable Republican.”)

If you’re one of their constituents, give Deb Fischer (Nebraska) and Dean Heller (Nevada) and Jeff Flake (Arizona) and John McCain (Arizona) and Cory Gardner (Colorado) and Dan Sullivan (Alaska) and John Hoeven (North Dakota) reason to stop and think about whether DeVos is worth it. Even if your Republican senator isn’t on that list of potential targets, give them a call. Find out if one of them will be meeting with the public over the next few days and show up. We’re talking about an education secretary who wants to destroy public education and walked into her confirmation hearing not knowing what the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act is. We can’t let this be an easy vote for Republicans.