Betsy DeVos Vote Splits Senate 50-50; Mike Pence Breaks Tie To Confirm

Betsy DeVos will be the new secretary of Education after the Senate voted 50-50 Tuesday in an unprecedented split on her appointment. Vice President Mike Pence voted in her favor to break the tie, officially confirming the nominee, a historical move in a Cabinet nomination.

Senate Democrats had held the floor since Monday afternoon to speak in opposition to the nomination. Because the Senate rules prevent filibustering a Cabinet nominee indefinitely, they were finally forced to give up the floor to allow a vote to take place.

To get a sense of how unprecedented Pence's tie-breaking vote was, consider the fact that Vice President Joe Biden didn't once use his tie-breaking vote power through eight years in office. Pence intervening in a vote this early in the term, and in a Cabinet nomination no less, showed the level of division American politics has come to.

Sen. Al Franken, a Democrat from Minnesota and former comedian, quickly issued a statement criticizing the appointment:

"Last night, I urged my Republican colleagues to oppose her nomination, because if we cannot set party loyalty aside long enough to perform the essential duty of vetting the President's nominees, then I don't know what we are even doing here," he said. "Betsy DeVos has demonstrated that she is fundamentally unqualified to lead the Education Department, and it's a shame that Republicans voted to confirm one of their major donors instead of looking out for our children."

Since President Trump's election, Democrats haven't taken as strong a line of opposition to Trump's Cabinet picks as some in the party's base would have liked. But through something of a convergent coalescing of ideology, strategic decision-making and party interests, the Democratic Party became united against the education nominee.

Senators Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine, both Republicans, voted against DeVos. Having pledged to do so, the senators gave Democrats hope that they might be able to convince another Republican to oppose the nominee.

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But all other Republicans held fast in their support.

Sen. Lamar Alexander, a Republican from Tennessee, spoke passionately in defense of DeVos ahead of the vote, saying that Democrats have treated the nominee with much more scrutiny than the Republicans had given to President Obama's appointees.

"You may disagree with the new president, but the people elected him," he said.

Democrats have made the height of their dissatisfaction with DeVos no secret, as the all-night speech-giving demonstrated.

"Vouchers and for-profit charter schools are not the answer for rural America and Betsy DeVos is not the answer for secretary of education," Sen. Bernie Sanders, an Independent from Vermont who caucuses with the Democrats, said on Twitter.

Franken said he found DeVos' performance to be "the most embarrassing confirmation hearing I have ever seen."

Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, a Democrat from North Dakota, said on the Senate floor, "In my opinion, we've got a highly unqualified nominee for one of the most significant positions in government for out most precious resource — our children."

Many supporters of DeVos accused the opposition of being driven by teachers union interests.

Sen. Tim Scott, a Republican from South Carolina, joined in on the Democrats' speechifying to support DeVos.

"I believe she will help to improve public education," he said on the Senate floor. "For too many of our children, a quality public education ... is simply not happening."

He continued: "She's not going to be able to mandate school choice. That will be our decision."

Later, he added: "Education is the closest thing to magic in America."

Speaking all night, Democrats ended up repeating themselves quite a bit. Frequent themes included the large number of constituents opposing the nomination, DeVos' lack of experience in public education, her shaky performance during confirmation hearings, her advocacy of voucher programs, potential conflicts of interest and her status as a billionaire Republican donor.

Several of the Democrats read letters aloud from their constituents, including parents and educators, denouncing DeVos.

"My office received over 3,700 calls on the DeVos nomination," said Sen. Tom Carper, a Democrat from Delaware, noting that's a substantial number in such a small state. He only received 10 calls in support of the nominee.

Watch the full proceedings below:

Photo credit: Scrumshus