#Holdthefloor: Senate Democrats’ All-Night Vigil Against DeVos
This is going down to the wire
Senate Democrats, channeling public opposition to Trump’s nomination of Betsy DeVos for Secretary of Education while venting their own outrage over her lack of qualifications for the job, are occupying the Senate floor for 24 hours ahead of the chamber’s vote on her confirmation at noon.
Every Democrat in the Senate plans to vote against Trump’s nominee, joined by two Republicans. Vice President Mike Pence may cast the tie-breaking and deciding vote in a historical first for a cabinet confirmation.
“Democrats — who planned to stay up through the night debating DeVos’ nomination — made it clear that they weren’t ready to give up the fight,” Education Week reports.
Those who oppose DeVos are urging voters to call their senators this morning and tell them to vote no on DeVos; then make sure to contact colleagues, friends, and family to tell them to call too. The National Education Association, the nation’s largest teachers’ union, is circulating this number to call: 1-855-882-6229.
Check out #holdthefloor on Twitter to get the latest on the Senate Democrats’ vigil.
The unity among the Democratic Party’s senators is no doubt a result of the surge of protests against DeVos that have broken out across the country. A large share of the public perceives DeVos as a threat to a fundamental institution in our country because she and other members of her family have spent hundreds of millions of dollars on lobbying campaigns and politicians’ election campaigns to advance her own ideology while disparaging the public schools the vast majority of Americans attend.
“Teachers unions, civil rights advocates, and a ragtag assemblage of other opponents are bombarding congressional offices with tens of thousands of phone calls and more than 1 million emails,” write Caitlin Emma and Austin Wright at Politico.
A newspaper in Nebraska reports 200 people turned out at an anti-DeVos demonstration the weekend before this vote in Omaha to tell their Senator, Republican Deb Fischer, to vote against DeVos.
Crowds came out in Colorado — an event in Fort Collins expecting 200 swelled to 800, and an event in Denver drew over 100 — to tell Senator Cory Gardner, a Republican, to make the switch from yes to no.
Over 200 showed up at a rally in Charleston, West Virginia, to persuade Senator Shelley Moore #Holdthefloor: Senate Democrats’ All-Night Vigil Against DeVos: