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By Grant M. Deltz
Associate Editor
On Tuesday, Vice President Mike Pence cast the tiebreaking vote to confirm Betsy DeVos as Secretary of Education.
This 50-50 tie comes after a hotly contested period of time where even some Republicans opposed President Trump’s pick, as Senators Susan Collins(ME) and Lisa Murkowski (AK) came out against DeVos last week. The Democrats, knowing how close the vote was going to be, attempted to shake down at least one more Republican the night before the confirmation hearing, utilizing a filibuster for 24 hours.
This is the first time in United States history that the Vice President has used the power, as the President of the Senate, to break a tie during a vote to confirm a presidential cabinet nominee.
The LA Times described DeVos as, a Michigan-based Republican activist, former state party chairwoman and fundraiser, spent her career campaigning for school vouchers, which would send tax money to families to help them pay for private and often religious schools. As the wife of the billionaire heir to the Amway fortune, she contributed millions of dollars to candidates who supported vouchers, including several of the senators expected to vote to confirm her.
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