What Was Accomplished in the DeVos Confirmation Process?
Public education supporters relentlessly made phone calls and wrote letters to Senators to complain about Betsy DeVos. Despite that the entire Democratic Senate Caucus held an all-night session enumerating problems with the Education Secretary nominee—her ignorance, her ideology of privatization, her entangled finances and potential conflicts of interest, DeVos has now been confirmed and sworn in. Her confirmation was always pretty much a sure thing, because today Republicans have more seats in the Senate and because Cabinet nominee confirmations cannot be filibustered.
But commentators have been noting significant accomplishments from the DeVos confirmation process. Here are three examples.
Dana Milbank, opinion writer for the Washington Post, explains that we should all be encouraged by the kind of incompetence Betsy DeVos demonstrated through her confirmation hearing: “Republicans, apparently recognizing the billionaire’s lack of familiarity with the rudiments of education policy, tried to shield DeVos from public view. They scheduled her testimony in the evening and limited questions. But this did not save the heiress from getting schooled… DeVos was ‘confused’ by questions about the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, and befuddled when asked about the raging debate about measuring student proficiency and growth.”
Milbank believes that the DeVos confirmation hearing exposed an unusual level of ignorance among appointments by the Trump White House, and that Democrats can someday use such cluelessness to their own advantage: “Democrats in the long run may thank the majority Republicans for confirming DeVos. In the fight against President Trump’s agenda, the new What Was Accomplished in the DeVos Confirmation Process? | janresseger:
