Senate confirms Betsy DeVos as VP Mike Pence breaks the tie, Seth MacFarlane offers sexist tweet

In one of the most divisive Senate confirmations in U.S. History, Betsy DeVos will now move forward as President Trump’s Secretary of Education. Vice President Mike Pence broke the 50-50 tie, giving DeVos the vote needed to put her in the Trump cabinet.

DeVos divided conservatives and liberals from a leftist attack on charter schools, public education funding and outright cronyism. Only two Republicans defected from party lines: Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.

“I hope against hope that another Republican senator will have the courage of the senators from Alaska and Maine and join us,” Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Tuesday morning ahead of the vote. But if that doesn’t happen, Schumer said, “we Democrats are very proud of what we have done, because the nominee is so unqualified — and now Americans now know that.”

Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.) said DeVos displayed a “profound lack of understanding about education policy” at her confirmation hearing.“I can’t say it enough: A vote for Ms. DeVos is a vote to destroy our public school system,” he said Tuesday.

Saturday Night Live is already mocking DeVos like an airheaded nitwit, Elizabeth Warren refused to shake her hand and the anger and vitriol from the left was immediate:

“The DeVos pledge: If your senator voted YES, you pledge to vote AGAINST them in the next election and to donate to their opponent, Please RT.” – @George Takai

“Betsy DeVos confirmed. What is also confirmed is that there is not one single man of courage in the Republican Congress” – @SethMacFarlane

DeVos was not widely known when Trump picked her in November. That changed after her performance at a confirmation hearing in January, when she stumbled over policy questions and left open the possibility that she would cut education funding, privatize public schools and scale back the Education Department’s civil rights work.

Supporters cheer the thought at gutting the federal intrusions and allowing a more free market approach to education: “The numbers are stark. American education continues to sink. We are now 39th in math and 27th in science, having fallen dramatically under the last two presidents, a Republican and a Democrat,” wrote Doug Wead in a new article supporting DeVos.

“The horror stories coming out of American schools are legion. If an American student is lucky, he or she will be subjected to years of propaganda promoting a leftist sociopolitical agenda. They will see open drug use in the halls and classrooms and be subjected to violent attacks in front of teachers who will not report the incidents to authorities. While less than 1.9 percent of them will be Muslim, they will be allowed to wear a hijab but will be openly ridiculed for manifesting any Christian beliefs. And, usually, teachers will not be fired. In Brooklyn, a teacher who admitted to sexually abusing a sixth-grade female student was kept on the school payroll.”

On the DISPATCH: Headlines Local Opinion

About the Author

Brandon Jones - Writer and Co-Founder of The Global Dispatch, Brandon has been covering news, offering commentary for years, beginning professionally in 2003 on Crazed Fanboy before expanding into other blogs and sites. Appearing on several radio shows, Brandon has hosted Dispatch Radio, written his first novel (The Rise of the Templar) and completed the three years Global University program in Ministerial Studies to be a pastor. To Contact Brandon email [email protected] ATTN: BRANDON