If you support Public Education - please vote no on Betsy Devos

[GreyhoundFan]

Interesting article about the DeVos nomination: "Betsy DeVos’s confirmation is suddenly on thin ice. Her defeat would be almost unprecedented."

Quote

Two Republican senators announced Wednesday that they will not support Betsy DeVos's nomination to become education secretary, in an unusual display of resistance from members of the president's own party to his chosen Cabinet pick.

And if a third Republican senator joins them, it may not only be unusual; it could be historic.

Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) both announced they won't back DeVos, who featured in a rough confirmation hearing two weeks ago, because of her views on the public education system. That leaves 50 Republican senators who could support her. If every member of the Democratic caucus joined Collins and Murkowski in voting no, Vice President Pence would be forced into a rare tie-breaking vote as president of the Senate.

But if another Republican senator bolts -- and some aren't committing one way or another right now -- DeVos would be headed for defeat. And history shows it's very rare for presidents with a Senate majority to see their nominees defeated. Very.

The last two Cabinet nominees to be officially defeated were defense secretary nominee John Tower in 1989 and commerce secretary nominee Lewis Strauss in 1959. Both faced a Senate majority from the other party. Tower, a nominee of Republican President George H.W. Bush, lost the vote of one liberal Republican but otherwise had the complete support of his party. Strauss, an Eisenhower appointee, was defeated by a Senate that was dominated by Democrats who didn't need a bipartisan front.

The last Cabinet nominee to be defeated thanks to losing senators from the president's own party was way back in 1925, when Calvin Coolidge's selection of Charles B. Warren for attorney general was rejected by both Democrats and some liberal Republicans.

The vote took place in the aftermath of the Teapot Dome scandal, and Warren was thought to be too closely allied with the sugar industry and its unfair practices. In the end, 31 Democrats and one third-party senator joined nine Republicans to narrowly defeat Warren's nomination, 41-39. All 39 "yea" votes for Warren come from Republicans.

Of course, it's much more common for Cabinet nominees facing rejection to be withdrawn than actually face a vote they will lose. But even then, it's been rare that this was the result of bipartisan opposition; more often it's been the result of an emerging scandal or the opposition party having a Senate majority.

Ronald Reagan in 1987 withdrew Robert Gates's nomination to be CIA director amid bipartisan grilling about the Iran-Contra affair, which happened when Gates was deputy director of the CIA. Democrats alone could have stopped his nomination though, given they had a 10-seat majority. Gates was confirmed to the same post in 1991 after being nominated by George H.W. Bush.

Other withdrawals in recent decades had more to do with scandal rather than bipartisan reservations. The tax problems of former Senate majority leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) derailed his nomination to be health and human services secretary in 2009. Conflicts of interest marred Bill Richardson's nomination to be commerce secretary that same year. During the Bush administration, 2004 homeland security secretary nominee Bernard Kerik and 2001 Labor secretary nominee Linda Chavez both succumbed to questions about ties to undocumented immigrants. Bill Clinton's pick for attorney general in 1993, Zoe Baird, was withdrawn amid similar questions.

Clinton's veterans affairs secretary nominee, Hershel Gober, in 1997 faced questions about a four-year-old accusation of sexual misconduct. His CIA director nominee that same year, Anthony Lake, drew fierce opposition from Republicans, but not Democrats. The only other nominee who was withdrawn in the 20th century was Robert C. Wood to be Lyndon Johnson's housing and urban development secretary. The nomination was never reported to committee.

So basically, since the dawn of the 20th century, we've seen a bipartisan group of senators take down a president's Cabinet nominee precisely once.

 

Wow, I didn't realize how rare it is to be voted down.

 

 

[PsyD2013]

Joni Ernst and Chuck Grassley are still in support of Betsy.  I'm emailing and calling them daily to please say no to this one.  I have family members who worship the orange one and are in awe of Betsy.  My utter contempt for the tangerine has made me an outcast in my own family. I try not to care because I care about the kids I work with. Her sheer ignorance on IDEA (special education statute) scares me.  I'm a child psychologist and the majority of my clients have autism spectrum disorder or challenging behavior.  I worry about the impact DeVos policies will have on their education.

Edited February 2, 2017 by PsyD2013
left out a sentence, sentence order

[GreyhoundFan]

"Eli Broad, billionaire philanthropist and charter school backer, urges senators to oppose DeVos"

Quote

Eli Broad, a billionaire philanthropist from California and major backer of charter schools, is urging senators to oppose the nomination of Betsy DeVos as education secretary, saying that she is unqualified for the job.

“At the risk of stating the obvious, we must have a Secretary of Education who believes in public education and the need to keep public schools public,” Broad wrote in a letter Wednesday to Sens. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.).

“With Betsy DeVos at the helm of the U.S. Department of Education, much of the good work that has been accomplished to improve public education for all of America’s children could be undone.”

Broad’s opposition to DeVos is notable in part because it illuminates the extent of the opposition movement.

Republicans have argued that Democrats are fighting against DeVos out of allegiance to teachers unions. Broad is a major Democratic booster. But he has used his wealth to promote charter schools in Los Angeles and cities nationwide, and could hardly be considered in the pocket of unions. In fact, unions have often attacked him, alleging that he is trying to undermine public education.

Broad expressed his opposition at a time when DeVos’s nomination appeared to be hanging by a thread, after two Republican senators, Susan Collins (Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), said Wednesday they plan to vote against her.

However, the White House press secretary and key GOP senators said that they were still confident DeVos will be confirmed.

Broad has spent more than $140 million backing charter schools and is a proponent of strict accountability for schools. He does not support vouchers, according to a spokeswoman.

He wrote in his letter, which was sent by email to all Senate offices, that he has had serious concerns since DeVos’s nomination about her support for “unregulated charter schools and vouchers as well as the potential conflicts of interest she might bring to the job.”

He said his concern grew after her Jan. 17 confirmation hearing, where she stumbled over basic policy questions.

“I now also question her ability to enforce key provisions of the range of federal statutes entrusted to this role,” Broad wrote.

“In short, I believe she is unprepared and unqualified for the position. As someone who is deeply committed to the belief that all children deserve access to a strong public education, I hope you will join me in opposing Mrs. DeVos’s nomination.”

Look, a billionaire who isn't on the Betsy train.

[VixenToast]

I called Ben Sasse about her today. I'm going to try again tomorrow and also try Deb Fischer. Nebraska, Red State. Yay (not).

[JMarie]

The vote is set for 6:30 tomorrow morning.  That's right, the vote will be happening before most of America is even awake. 

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/senate-schedules-630-am-vote-on-devos/ar-AAmz33C?li=AA5a8k&ocid=spartanntp

[VixenToast]

1 hour ago, JMarie said:

The vote is set for 6:30 tomorrow morning.  That's right, the vote will be happening before most of America is even awake. 

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/senate-schedules-630-am-vote-on-devos/ar-AAmz33C?li=AA5a8k&ocid=spartanntp

Oh ffs. I wish God would "lay it on her heart" to stop breathing. *exasperated sigh*

[candygirl200413]

wait... we are going to wake up to some possible nonsense unless for the love that is all holy that some GOP senator grows a spine and decides not to vote for her?!

[VelociRapture]

As far as I know, the vote today is to end Democrat stalling and set the final vote for Monday. So keep calling and harassing your Senators.

[formergothardite]

Tillis and Burr received money from her family, they are going to vote for her. 

[VelociRapture]

 Update - the vote is over. Debate will end and the final vote scheduled for early next week.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/03/politics/betsy-devos-clears-another-hurdle-in-early-morning-senate-vote/index.html

Keep harassing your Senators! I emailed a few last night to voice my opposition - I think I emailed Flake, Heller, and one other from Nebraska or Nevada.

To be honest, I fully expect for her to be confirmed. Republicans have never cared much for the average family or child. But there's still a chance of stopping this. Don't give up! 

[Childless]

5 minutes ago, VelociRapture said:

 

To be honest, I fully expect for her to be confirmed. Republicans have never cared much for the average family or child. But there's still a chance of stopping this. Don't give up! 

I keep wondering when Republican voters will wake the hell up and realize that Republican politicians don't give a rat's ass about them.  Donald Trump doesn't care about you!  None of them do.  They care about rich people.  End of discussion.  They will make your life worse in a New York minute if it benefits the wealthy.  Christ, my family is in the top 20% of the country when it comes to income and that's before my husband starts working again in May and I seem to care more about these people's well being then they care about their own well being.  I feel like I'm living in the damn Twilight Zone.

[GreyhoundFan]

56 minutes ago, VelociRapture said:

 Update - the vote is over. Debate will end and the final vote scheduled for early next week.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/03/politics/betsy-devos-clears-another-hurdle-in-early-morning-senate-vote/index.html

Keep harassing your Senators! I emailed a few last night to voice my opposition - I think I emailed Flake, Heller, and one other from Nebraska or Nevada.

To be honest, I fully expect for her to be confirmed. Republicans have never cared much for the average family or child. But there's still a chance of stopping this. Don't give up! 

I was reading (sorry, I can't remember where, so I can't link the article) that many of the deep red places don't have many, if any, charter schools. Thus, they can't understand why Betsy is such bad news.

I've tried calling some of the Senators who were listed above and get non-stop busy signals. I have faxed a few, but have a feeling they won't listen no matter what. I was concentrating on Flake, because he seems like the least likely to support Drumpf, but I have a feeling the Repubs were threatened to stay in line.

[RoseWilder]

32 minutes ago, Childless said:

I keep wondering when Republican voters will wake the hell up and realize that Republican politicians don't give a rat's ass about them.  Donald Trump doesn't care about you!  None of them do.  They care about rich people.  End of discussion.  They will make your life worse in a New York minute if it benefits the wealthy.  Christ, my family is in the top 20% of the country when it comes to income and that's before my husband starts working again in May and I seem to care more about these people's well being then they care about their own well being.  I feel like I'm living in the damn Twilight Zone.

My brother, a college educated person who is a teacher, posted on his Facebook page last week "finally, we have a President who cares about the people." He's also incredibly racist. So viewing it in that light, it brought to mind this quote from Lyndon Johnson, ""If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you." The Republicans have mastered the art of convincing their voters to hate people who are different from them. 

[ShepherdontheRock]

32 minutes ago, GreyhoundFan said:

I was reading (sorry, I can't remember where, so I can't link the article) that many of the deep red places don't have many, if any, charter schools. Thus, they can't understand why Betsy is such bad news.

I've tried calling some of the Senators who were listed above and get non-stop busy signals. I have faxed a few, but have a feeling they won't listen no matter what. I was concentrating on Flake, because he seems like the least likely to support Drumpf, but I have a feeling the Repubs were threatened to stay in line.

I know it's discouraging to get a busy signal and full voicemail, but if you keep calling and that's the case, it most likely means they're being inundated with calls from people like you. So don't freak out too much. 

I fully expect her to be confirmed as well. I don't know what to say, what these idiot voters thought they were voting for. You ignorant, selfish people screwed yourselves. My teacher friends are now all freaking out about their careers potentially being ruined. 

Ughhhh

[JMarie]

2 hours ago, GreyhoundFan said:

I was reading (sorry, I can't remember where, so I can't link the article) that many of the deep red places don't have many, if any, charter schools. Thus, they can't understand why Betsy is such bad news.

I've tried calling some of the Senators who were listed above and get non-stop busy signals. I have faxed a few, but have a feeling they won't listen no matter what. I was concentrating on Flake, because he seems like the least likely to support Drumpf, but I have a feeling the Repubs were threatened to stay in line.

The deep red places also probably don't have many private school options, so the voucher system (Betsy's big selling point) wouldn't apply to them. 

[FakePigtails]

3 hours ago, JMarie said:

The deep red places also probably don't have many private school options, so the voucher system (Betsy's big selling point) wouldn't apply to them. 

I know someone from a very red area who would be similarly unaware of the system's details who was talking about vouchers like they're what allow you to go to another public school. From what they said (I didn't feel like getting into it to find out more) it sounded like they thought being against vouchers meant being against allowing people to choose neighboring districts.

Based on that I would guess a significant number hear "opposing school choice" and think "only being allowed to attend your zoned schools" instead of "not being allowed to use public funds to pay for a religious education".

[turquoise]

Thom Tillis (R-NC) now says he is undecided on DeVos. Give him a call! The quote below was posted by several Facebook friends.

DeVos Update: NORTH CAROLINIANS!!! Senator Thom Tillis's office said he's undecided and wants to hear from people. (919) 856-4630 (202) 224-6342

[loveformusic]

...so Mike Pence is the tie-breaker, right? Looks like she'll be confirmed after all. *sigh* Still crossing my fingers for a miracle to happen, though!

[formergothardite]

46 minutes ago, turquoise said:

Thom Tillis (R-NC) now says he is undecided on DeVos. Give him a call! The quote below was posted by several Facebook friends.

DeVos Update: NORTH CAROLINIANS!!! Senator Thom Tillis's office said he's undecided and wants to hear from people. (919) 856-4630 (202) 224-6342

Where did you read this? The last I read is that he has come out in support of her. 

http://pulse.ncpolicywatch.org/2017/02/02/undecided-no-longer-senator-tillis-will-support-devos-education-secretary/#sthash.RRS7AFjO.dpbs

[turquoise]

I had several friends who posted it on Facebook. Possibly they (and I) are behind the times. Sorry!

[GreyhoundFan]

I saw this on Twitter. Pretty interesting.

[candygirl200413]

2 hours ago, GreyhoundFan said:

I saw this on Twitter. Pretty interesting.

My spineless senator :). He refuses to meet with any of us and is just the absolute worst.

[RosyDaisy]

I wrote letters to Richard Shelby an Jeff Sessions. Sessions is a misogynist, racist bigot with the KKK. He was also on Trump's short list for VP. He's the one who is really behind Betsy Devos' nomination. Shelby is not much different, minus the KKK.

[zygote373]

Still 50-50 as far as the public knows, and the Democrats are holding the floor for 24 hours before the vote in protest.

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/02/democrats-senate-floor-betsy-devos-nomination-protest

 

Edited February 6, 2017 by zygote373
Edited to include Chris Murphy's golden tweet

[GreyhoundFan]

"She had something to say about Betsy DeVos. So she sent her senator a pizza — with a message."

Spoiler

Julia Silge was desperate to reach her senator last Monday.

The 38-year-old Utah resident had strong opinions about President Trump's nominee for education secretary, Betsy DeVos, and felt she needed to air her concerns before DeVos's final Senate confirmation hearing.

For weeks, Silge had tried dialing the Salt Lake City office of Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah), but no one ever answered the phone. She had gotten through once, in January, and left a message, but it was never returned. After that, Hatch's voice-mail box seemed to be perpetually full.

Having exhausted her options, Silge tried the next best route she could think of: She pulled up GrubHub, a food delivery service app, and ordered a 12-inch ham-and-pineapple pizza for delivery to Hatch's office.

Under “Special Instructions,” Silge requested the following note be attached to the pizza box: “From a Salt Lake constituent in 84105: Please vote NO on Betsy DeVos. She is an inappropriate choice to lead our public schools.”

For good measure, Silge included a $10 tip “in the hopes of it actually happening.”

Then she submitted the order, and waited. For fun, Silge took a screenshot of her order and posted it on Twitter, where she continued to provide live updates about her unusual last-ditch effort to contact Hatch's office.

“I just got a phone call from the delivery person asking me where in the federal office building to go; she is actually delivering it!” Silge tweeted shortly after submitting the order.

Ten minutes later, she returned with another, less exuberant update.

“I am sad to report that my senator's office refused delivery of the pizza,” Silge tweeted, along with sad-face and pizza emoji.

Several hours later, Silge said she received a call from security at the Salt Lake City federal office building, where Hatch's office was located.

“I have gotten a call about a suspicious pizza,” she said the security person told her. Though Silge said the security person was “pretty chill with me,” it turned out Hatch's office had reported the unauthorized pizza delivery to police, according to the Salt Lake Tribune, who first reported the story.

“I definitely had like an, 'Oh, what did I do?' moment when this person was calling me,” Silge told The Washington Post on Monday. “At that time, I was feeling very frustrated and I kind of made this snap decision.”

To her relief, the security person verified key facts — including the pizza toppings on the pie that had been delivered — and told her her story checked out.

“Since it was not actually a threat of any kind and I had not actually broken any rules, there were no ramifications,” Silge said.

A call to Hatch's Salt Lake City office early Monday morning was routed to a general voice-mail box, which did accept a message. The call was not immediately returned.

A spokesman for Hatch's Washington office told The Post on Monday that they actually saw the pizza saga on social media as it was unfolding.

“We appreciate all creative efforts to reach Senator Hatch, particularly as we deal with a large volume of out-of-state callers that are preventing Utah constituents from reaching us,” Hatch's office said in an email statement. “Unfortunately, the pizza did not make it through security screening because the office had not ordered it. As a result, we did not see the message attached to the pizza.”

They have, however, since informed Hatch about Silge's concerns.

“In the future, if constituents would like to tag us with a message when they send food to their local homeless shelter, we will be certain to share those thoughts with the Senator as well,” the statement added.

A spokesman for Hatch's office said their phone lines have been tied up with an enormous volume of calls, about 80 percent of which are “robo-calls” from outside Utah. Last Thursday, he said, the Washington office received 600 calls in a four-hour period from the state of Washington, as recorded in logs that make note of callers' Zip codes.

The spokesman added that the senator does, in fact, like pizza — including of the ham-and-pineapple variety — but declined to say whether Hatch had been swayed by feedback from Silge or any other constituents regarding DeVos. Instead, the spokesman referred to an interview Hatch did with KSL Broadcasting on Friday in which the senator spoke favorably and optimistically about DeVos's nomination.

“It's easy to support Betsy DeVos,” Hatch said in the interview. “She is a crusader in education who has the same concerns that all of us have had. … Some of the criticisms of her have really been awful.”

After DeVos was announced as the nominee last November, Hatch released a statement saying he was “excited” about the pick and looked forward to working with her to preserve local control of education.

DeVos's nomination has elicited strong backlash from Democrats and other critics who say she lacks the experience for the job. Videos of DeVos at a confirmation hearing in January, in which she appeared confused about the federal Individuals With Disabilities Education Act, were widely shared. She has also declined to take a stand on whether guns belong in schools.

The Senate is scheduled to vote Tuesday on DeVos's nomination. Two Republicans — Sen. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Sen. Susan Collins (Maine) — have said they will join all 48 Democratic senators in opposing DeVos. However, Vice President Pence is expected to cast a tiebreaking vote for DeVos.

Silge said she knew Hatch was likely to vote for DeVos but that only fueled her desire to contact him. She said she has not been particularly politically engaged in the past but grew concerned after watching DeVos's confirmation hearing in January.

“I wanted to communicate that I was not in favor of this,” said Silge, a mother of three whose children attend Utah public schools. “As someone who represents me, I wanted him to know.”

Hatch's office, she said, has since reached out to her to try to arrange a lunch in Utah with the senator. (It is unclear whether they will go out for pizza, she added.)

As for the wayward pie, Silge said she didn't expect her post to go viral. And to her surprise, quite a few of the comments she's received have focused on the type of pizza she sent to Hatch's office.

“I personally am a fan,” she said of the ham-and-pineapple toppings. “It turns out this was a very controversial choice that I made. Much like Betsy DeVos is a controversial, divisive choice.”

Some of the Tweets and screenshots in the article are good -- "I would like to support a suspicious pizza."