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Over Democrats' Objections, Republicans End Betsy Devos' Sh*tshow of a Confirmation Hearing

By Dustin Rowles | Politics | January 17, 2017 |

By Dustin Rowles | Politics | January 17, 2017 |


Over the objections of angry Democratic Senators (Bernie, Al Franken, and Elizabeth Warren), the Republicans would only commit to one round of questions for Betsy Devos’ confirmation hearing as Secretary of Education, limited questions to five minutes per Senator. On the seat for only three hours (while Rex Tillerson got two days of hearings), Tennessee Senator Lamar Alexander slammed the gavel and ended the hearings, saying that Obama set the precedent of one round of questions for his Education Secretary nominee (who was much more qualified).

Educators, parents, and anyone who has any interest whatsoever in public education exploded on Twitter. There were hundreds of tweets like this:

In the limited amount of time we did have, here’s what we found out about Betsy Devos.

She and her family have donated over $200 million to Republicans, which Bernie Sanders strongly suggested is the only reason she’s up for the job.

She has no f*cking idea what “proficiency” means, even though proficiency vs. growth has been a subject debated in public education for years (and Al Franken lets her know)

Neither she nor her children have ever attended public school, though she would be in charge of running the nation’s public school system.

She’s anti-gay. She and her family have given over $10 million to Focus on the Family, which advocates conversion therapy.

Though she will be in charge of overseeing a trillion dollar student loan bank, DeVos has no experience overseeing banks, no experience managing a comparable program, no experience participating in such a program. She’s never taken out a student loan, nor have her children. She has no personal experience with financial aid.

She would not commit to preserving funding for public education, aka, she was open to defunding public schools.

She has no interest in standing up for kids with disabilities (or saying “I think that issue is one best left for the states” is her version of, ‘I don’t understand the question and don’t have the knowledge to answer it.’)

She has no experience whatsoever.

OH OH OH. She also wants to allow guns in schools because GRIZZLY BEARS.