Baldwin opposes Trump education pick Betsy DeVos

Senate committee to vote on Jan. 31

U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) said Monday she would oppose Michigan billionaire Betsy DeVos for education secretary when the Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee votes on whether to confirm DeVos.

Baldwin’s announcement comes as no surprise. She’s a Democrat who favors public schools over charter schools and taxpayer-funded religious schools, institutions for which DeVos has advocated during her career in Republican politics and in chairing the conservative philanthropy American Federation for Children.

The HELP Committee vote on President Donald Trump’s pick for education secretary was rescheduled for Jan. 31 instead of Tuesday after the committee received DeVos’ ethics review from the U.S. Office of Government Ethics late last week.

The ethics review was not ready before DeVos’ confirmation hearing in front of the HELP Committee on Jan. 17, which meant committee members couldn’t ask her questions about her involvement in education companies that might pose conflicts of interest if she were to become education secretary.

After the hearing, as part of an agreement with government ethics officials, DeVos listed 102 companies from which she would divest within 90 days if she is confirmed as education secretary.

In her statement Monday, Baldwin called it “deeply troubling” that DeVos “failed to complete her ethics homework and address in a transparent and timely way over 100 potential conflicts of interest prior to last week’s committee hearing.”

She added: “Important questions and concerns remain for Betsy DeVos, which is why I have joined my colleagues in calling for a second committee hearing that would ensure that these and other important issues receive the scrutiny that they deserve.”

On Monday, Baldwin also joined Senate Democrats in penning a letter to the HELP Committee Chair, Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), requesting a second confirmation hearing for DeVos. The Democrats complained about being cut off from asking DeVos additional questions after just one round in the first hearing. They said they also had unresolved concerns about her financial dealings in education and potential conflicts of interest.

DeVos’ critics have grown louder after she displayed some noticeable gaffes in the initial hearing, such as suggesting that states could decide how to serve children with special needs at the local level, when in reality those practices are governed by a well-known federal law. DeVos has not worked in public schools and did not attend or send her children to public schools.

According to industry newspaper Education Week, an aide for Alexander responded that there would be no additional hearings. The aide responded that DeVos had already met with committee members individually and spent nearly 90 minutes longer in her hearing than either of former President Barack Obama’s education secretaries, according to Education Week.