Senate confirms DeVos as secretary of education The 51-50 vote to confirm DeVos comes after the billionaire philanthropist unexpectedly emerged as the most contentious of any of Trump’s nominees.

Vice President Mike Pence on Tuesday cast a historic tie-breaking vote in the Senate to seal Betsy DeVos’ confirmation as the next Education secretary, ending an unusually contentious fight over a Cabinet post that has traditionally enjoyed bipartisan support.

The 51-50 vote to confirm DeVos comes after the billionaire philanthropist and GOP megadonor unexpectedly emerged as the most contentious of any of President Donald Trump’s Cabinet nominees.


DeVos tweeted her thanks immediately: "I appreciate the Senate's diligence & am honored to serve as @usedgov Secretary. Let's improve options & outcomes for all US students."

During his briefing later, White House spokesman Sean Spicer praised DeVos as someone who "will ensure that every student has access to a good school, whether it's public, private, parochial or charter."

But he added that the need for Pence to cast a tie-breaking vote "is another glaring reminder of the unprecedented obstruction that Senate Democrats have engaged in throughout this process."

From the start, Democrats had been largely united against DeVos, whom they criticized as an enemy of public education. But a populist backlash against her after her stumbling performance during her confirmation hearing followed by the defections last week of two Republican senators — Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska — threw her confirmation into jeopardy.

After an all-night vigil on the Senate floor, Democrats were still trying to pick off a third Republican vote to derail the nomination right up until the count. Walking into the chamber just before noon, West Virginia Democrat Joe Manchin buttonholed Nevada Republican Dean Heller to try to persuade him to vote with Democrats, but was unsuccessful.

At about the same time, Patty Murray, ranking Democrat on the HELP Committee, exhorted a third Republican to defect from the party. "We just need one more Republican to join us ..." she pleaded. "One more to help us show the people across this country that their voice matters in this debate."

But Republicans managed to hold the rest of their caucus together, with HELP Chairman Lamar Alexander complaining howDeVos was the most heavily scrutinized Education secretary nominee in history. Democrats asked her 1,400 follow up questions after her confirmation hearing, he said.

Collins herself wished DeVos well, even after casting a vote against her.

“I think she’s a nice person who cares deeply about children," the Maine Republican said. "But her experience, in my judgment, did not make her well-equipped for this position. I think she would have done very well in other positions. But at this point, she is going to be our secretary of education, and I truly do hope that she’s very successful and have told her that.”

Majority Whip John Cornyn assailed the unrelenting opposition, saying the fight over DeVos "is about power and the desire to keep power over public education right here inside the Beltway."

View How we got to Betsy DeVos POLITICO's Caitlin Emma explains Betsy DeVos' nomination process on Monday. Produced by Beatrice Peterson.

He said one of DeVos' strengths is that she's not just another “education bureaucrat” who “knows all the acronyms” and “arcana."

Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on Monday that DeVos understands "parents, teachers and school boards" are best suited to make education decisions — not the federal government. Democrats should let her "begin the very important work before her without further delay," he said.

Even as the prospects of derailing the nomination grew ever slimmer, Democrats kept at it, however. Their all-night debate was not a filibuster, but an attempt to increase public pressure on GOP senators who had already received tens of thousands of calls and emails from constituents who oppose DeVos.

They hit DeVos repeatedly as a nominee with no public education experience, whom they said had actively sought to undermine public schools throughout her career — a charge DeVos denied but was never able to put to rest.

"When presented with a nominee who says that public education is a 'dead end' for students in this country, people take it personally," Sen. Chris Murphy, a Connecticut Democrat said shortly after 4 a.m., referring to a 2015 speech given by DeVos. "It hurts, because we all know that public schools can be better ... but we know it’s not a dead end/ "

Rhode Island Sen. Jack Reed read a letter from a worried educator who noted that DeVos has never been a public school teacher, administrator or the parent of a child in a public school — and has no conception of the inequities facing public schools.

"She has never wrestled with the incredible want for resources, the choices that we have to make every day, all within a city and state with some of the most prestigious and wealthy schools just a few steps away," Reed said, reading from the letter.

Around 3:30 a.m. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) spoke about DeVos' bumpy confirmation hearing last month. During the hearing, Kaine asked DeVos if all schools that receive taxpayer funding — whether public, charter or private — should be held equally accountable.

"And she said, 'Well, I believe in accountability,'" Kaine said. "Well, that’s not my question. I believe in accountability too."

Kaine said so-called school choice options are supposed to promote competition and "encourage everyone to step up their game."

"But if you hold public schools accountable while you’re taking some of their money away and you give that money to private schools, and you don’t hold them accountable, you’re not promoting fair competition," he said.

The 24-hour marathon of speeches concluded at around noon Tuesday, when the Senate began to vote.

