WASHINGTON The Senate confirmed Betsy DeVos on Tuesday as education secretary approving the embattled nominee only with the help of a historic tiebreaking vote from Vice President Mike Pence.
The 51-to-50 vote elevates Ms. DeVos a wealthy donor from Michigan who has devoted much of her life to expanding educational choice through charter schools and vouchers but has limited experience with the public school system to be steward of the nations schools.
Two Republicans voted against Ms. DeVoss confirmation a sign that some members of President Trumps party are willing to go against him possibly foreshadowing difficulty on some of the presidents more contentious legislative priorities.
It was the first time that a vice president has been summoned to the Capitol to break a tie on a cabinet nomination according to the Senate historian. Taking the gavel as the vote deadlocked at 50-50 Mr. Pence a former member of the House declared his vote for Ms. DeVos before announcing that Mr. Trumps nominee for education secretary had been confirmed.
The two Republicans who voted against the nominee Senators Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska announced their opposition to her last week. In back-to-back floor speeches the lawmakers said Ms. DeVos was unqualified because of a lack of familiarity with public schools and with laws meant to protect students despite her passion for helping them.
Ms. Collins and Ms. Murkowski said they had also been influenced by the thousands of messages they had received urging them to reject the nomination.
Despite clamorous objections to Ms. DeVos from teachers unions and even some charter organizations that typically oppose them opponents nonetheless fell shy of defeating her nomination. Most Republicans described her as committed and determined to put what is best for children above all else.
In a fiery speech moments before the vote Senator Lamar Alexander Republican of Tennessee and a former education secretary himself criticized his Democratic colleagues for opposing Ms. DeVos accusing them of opposing her because she was appointed by a Republican president.
Mr. Alexander chairman of the committee that approved Ms. DeVoss nomination last week in a straight party-line split said she had been at the forefront" of education reform for decades. She led the most effective public school reform movement over the last few years" he said.
Lacking the votes to block Ms. DeVos Democrats realized there was little they could do. Having exhausted every legislative option to slow consideration of her nomination Democrats held vigil in the final 24 hours before her confirmation vote coming to the Senate floor throughout the night and into the morning to reiterate their objections.
And though they spoke mostly to a chamber empty but for a handful of clerks pages and other staff members Democrats pressed their absent Republican colleagues to join them hoping for an eleventh-hour defection that would derail Ms. DeVoss nomination.
Senator Patty Murray of Washington the top Democrat on the committee that approved Ms. DeVos and a former educator herself on Tuesday morning urged disheartened colleagues and advocates not to think of their efforts as a waste.
Ms. DeVos has focused on expanding parental choice in education and embracing charter schools but also on vouchers that can allow students to use taxpayer dollars to pay tuition at private religious and for-profit schools. Her ideology was a good fit for the education platform that Mr. Trump put forward during the campaign which called for a $20 billion voucher initiative aimed at low-income children.
But freeing such an enormous sum would most likely require the reallocation of existing federal education money as well as a realignment of congressional priorities. Vouchers were not part of a sweeping education overhaul passed in 2015 and lawmakers from rural areas where schools tend to be farther apart are particularly wary of school choice initiatives. The Trump administration could potentially advance a more limited voucher program and seek tax credits for private school tuition or home-schooling costs. Ms. DeVos has also indicated that she would dismantle other pieces of the Obama administrations legacy potentially including a rule that denies federal student aid money to for-profit colleges whose graduates struggle to get jobs as well as an aggressive effort to investigate and adjudicate campus sexual assault claims. While they may have lost the fight against her confirmation many advocates said they would continue to fight Ms. DeVos as she serves as education secretary. Some vowed to demonstrate at her public appearances at forums and schools and to seek public candidates friendly to their view to run for local office. Lily Eskelsen Garca president of the National Education Association said her union would tap into the vast database of advocates it had built during Ms. DeVoss confirmation process to help keep her in check. As soon as she does something alarming it will be known it will be seen" she said. She wont be able to hide." Mr. Trumps choice of Ms. DeVos to lead the Department of Education the smallest of the cabinet agencies presented senators with a multitude of potential pitfalls. Her background as a prolific Republican fund-raiser who has donated about $200 million over the years to Republican causes and candidates including some senators as has been the case for previous presidential nominees came under scrutiny.Ms. DeVos is the daughter of a wealthy family and her husband Dick is the heir to the Amway fortune. Her complex web of financial investments also raised red flags among critics. Ms. DeVos was the first of Mr. Trumps nominees not to complete an ethics review before appearing before senators.
