Emboldened House Dems to question DeVos on Trump education cuts
WASHINGTON — U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is slated to testify in the U.S. House next week for the first time since Democrats took control of the chamber earlier this year.
DeVos — a West Michigan billionaire and one of the most polarizing President Donald Trump administration officials — is scheduled to testify Tuesday before a U.S. House Appropriations subcommittee that oversees education spending.
Her visit is certain to be dramatic.
She’s been called to Capitol Hill to defend Trump’s fiscal 2020 budget, which again seeks to boost voucher programs.
Vouchers have long been an issue close to DeVos’ heart. In 2000, the DeVoses pushed a constitutional amendment in Michigan creating a voucher program. That failed, despite a $13 million investment from the family, which routinely spends the most of any clan on elections in Michigan.
House Democrats will seize the opportunity to deride the administration’s controversial education policies.
U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), one of DeVos’ most outspoken critics on Capitol Hill, now holds the gavel of the House subcommittee with jurisdiction over federal education spending.
DeLauro and DeVos have gotten into heated exchangesbefore — including a fight during a hearing last year in which an exasperated DeLauro shouted at a clearly flustered DeVos about the Trump administration’s student loan policies.
DeLauro said earlier this year that she would use her subcommittee post to “hold Secretary DeVos accountable for her agency’s failure to uphold federal protections for our students.”
The Connecticut Democrat pointed specifically to DeVos’ CONTINUE READING: Emboldened House Dems to question DeVos on Trump education cuts ⋆ Michigan Advance
