Democrats are forcing education secretary nominee Betsy DeVos to answer nearly 1,400 follow-up questions ahead of her confirmation vote next week, a move Sen. Lamar Alexander says proves they're "grasping at straws" to oppose her.
By comparison, President Obama's two education secretaries – Arne Duncan and John King Jr. – had to answer 109 follow-up questions – combined.
"Democrats desperately are searching for a valid reason to oppose Betsy DeVos … because they don’t want Americans to know the real reason for their opposition," Alexander, the Tennessee Republican and education committee chair, wrote.
"That real reason? She has spent more than three decades helping children from low-income families choose a better school," Alexander wrote on Medium.
"Specifically, Democrats resent her support for allowing tax dollars to follow children to schools their low-income parents' choose — although wealthy families choose their children's schools every day," Alexander said.
DeVos' vote was delayed until Jan. 31 because Democrats said they needed more time to review her financial and ethics disclosures.
Bunk, Alexander said.
"Mrs. DeVos' senate opponents are grasping for straws," Alexander wrote. "We didn’t have time to question her, they say, even though she met with each one of them in their offices, and her hearing lasted nearly an hour and a half longer than either of President Obama’s education secretaries."
Alexander wants the nonsense to end.
"Democrats should also promptly confirm Betsy DeVos. Few Americans have done as much to help low-income students have a choice of better schools. She is on the side of our children. Her critics may resent that, but this says more about them than it does about her," Alexander concluded.
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