let's go through what betsy devos said to with. she refused to rule out slashing investments, privatizing public schools, privatizing public schools. she was confused that federal law provides protections for students with disabilities. she did not understand a basic issue in education policy. the debate surrounding whether students should be measured based on their proficiency or their growth. she argued that guns needed to be allowed in schools across the country to, quote, protect from grizzlies even though she was willing to say president trump's behavior towards women should be considered sexual assault, she would not commit to actually enforcing federal laws protecting women and girls in our schools. her hearing was such a disaster it was clear how little she understood about education issues that a number of people and groups who usually stay on the fence or sometimes stand with betsy devos on some issues could not stand with her anymore and to parents washing across the country, they saw a nominee who doesn't seem to care a

and among those has been betsy devos. the governors that are spoken of our governors that are familiar names in this country. i think of governor jeb bush. i think of governor john englerg of michigan. i think of governor mitt romney and the work they did in their respective states to make the public schools better and to greet other opportunities for children.ov all those governors, the threeel mentioned, they support betsy devos. there are 22 governors who have written letters to me as chairman of the senate education committee supporting betsy devos. they see her as someone from outside the system of the public education who, as they worked for 30 years, can help change and improve it and ask consent to include in the record following my remarks the names of the 22 governors who support her. they come from alabama, arizona, arkansas, florida, illinois, indiana, kansas, kentucky, maine, michigan, mississippi, missouri, north dakota, nebraska, nevada, new jersey, new mexico, ohio, oklahoma, tennessee, texas, wisconsin. a

it is not necessarily about betsy devos, not even betsy devos. the for me, the issue is simply an issue of quality education, and i will, without any question, have a very specific conversation on betsy devos. many for me, however, this is simply about quality education and how we get there. my story is familiar to many people in this chamber. i've spoken about it on a number of times. i'll tell you that my entire time in the senate, the four years that i've been here, i've been talking consistently about the power of education and the necessity of quality education. i call it the opportunity agenda, the opportunity agenda which has been my focus for the last four years focuses, first, on education, making sure that every single zip code in america has a quality choice for education. this is so important to me. as a poor kid growing up in a single-parent household, i was not doing very well. and from 7 to 14, i drifted in the wrong direction. as a freshman in high school, i basically flunked out. i failed world geography, i may be the first senat

host: a little bit of betsy devos' bio.he is married to an entrepreneur, the heir to the amway fortune. she was chair of the american federation for children which advocates for educational choice and chair of the private michigan investment and management firm. we will be talking about her throughout our program. talkathonupon -- continues. we want to hear from you and teachers. good morning. caller: good morning. i am calling to support my fellow teachers. i am a retired teacher but only retired seven years ago. they have no idea how difficult it is to teach in chicago public schools. i thought for over 40 years. .ery demanding job sometimes i would start at 5:00 in the morning and would still be working at 7:00 at night. i don't complain about that. that is what i wanted to do. i wanted to give children in the chicago area. i love the children, i love my job, but it is very difficult. the way they can change things, the requirements such as no child left behind, the core curriculum, it is very difficult for the teachers

betsy devos believes in school privatization and vouchers. she has worked to undermine efforts to regulate michigan charters even when they clearly fail. the marketplace solutions of devos will destroy our democratically governed community schools. she has no professional experience in the education field. she does not truly understand the nuances of public education, nor does she want to understand. i managed to earn scholarships that took care of most of my schooling, but i still have about $80,000 in student loans. paren -- not bad for two expensive private institution degrees. i am a first generation college student and my single mother could not afford to help me pay for my schooling. betsy devos just doesn't have experience in k-12 public schools, but she has no experience in running the student loan department. the federal student loan program is far from perfect. we need someone running it who is knowledgeable in the process, who believes in making college more affordable, and who understands what it feels like not to be sure how you w

we've heard very little passion speaking for betsy devos. but we've heard a tremendous amount of passion, and i want to thank the senator from ohio, in particular, speaking to the issue of the fact that ms. devos does owe a fine to ohio that has not been paid. and i find it incredulous that we are just dismissing that here and senators are voting for her. the senator from ohio spoke passionately about what vouchers would mean for students with disabilities and their ability to get a good education could be in jeopardy over the vision that this secretary brought forward. i listened to the senator from new mexico a few moments ago speak about many of our tribal schools and the fact that this secretary of education has no knowledge of tribal education and her role in being in charge of that, with no experience, no idea of what that means or how that will be enacted. again, i want to just say that we've heard from so many people in our states because we clearly have a nominee for the, to run the department of education with no experience and a ba

and in our hearing, betsy devos actually agreed with me that president trump's horrificcally leaked comments from 2005 describe sexual assault. she was clear but i was disappointed to say the least in mrs. devos responses about whether she would seek to continue the obamacare work to protect -- the obama administration to protect students. when she was asked whether she would upholded guidance issued under the obamacare to hold schools accountable for stronger, more effective investigations of sexual assault, she wouldn't commit to that. she would not commit to that. when i asked her whether she would continue key transparency measures like weekly public reports on active investigations into potentially mishandled sexual assault cases, she dodged the question. now, these answers are especially concerning given that mrs. devos has gone so far as to donate to an organization dedicated to rolling back efforts to better support survivors and support accountability. let kneel that you again. mrs. devos has gone so far as to donate to an organization dedicated to rolling back efforts to better sup

so far betsy devos and her allies have contributed $8,300 to tom cotton. propose we try to raise $8,301 to outbid them. people who started that in arkansas, the buy tom cotton's vote go fund me, they tell us they honestly had no idea it was already happening in pennsylvania to buy pat toomey's vote. they didn't know when they set up theirs but once they realized they had the same idea and somebody else was doing this for a different republican senator they posted this teasing update saying pennsylvania folks are pitching in to help buy their senator's vote but our's is much cheaper. in both of these cases, they say, they are not actually trying to bribe their senator. they will donate the money they raise if they hit their target to worthy charities in their senator's home states but still, point made. so it will be interesting to see what happens here because, you know, republicans prioritize their meeting with major donors tonight and tomorrow in south florida. they gave up the chance to nail down the betsy devos nomination tomorrow morning. they've got

she writes, i have grave concerns about the nomination of betsy devos as secretary of education. as the parents of a special needs child, it would not be an understatement to say i was horrified at ms. devos' answer to the question about the children with disabilities act during her recent hearing. the one thing we rely on, the department of education to do is to vigorously enforce and uphold the landmark civil rights law that is idea. without it, our children would fall through the cracks. it is extremely difficult to navigate the system, make sure your child gets the support he or she needs. my son is 20 now so i've been doing it for a long time. i've served on both state and local special ed advisory committees, school committee, taken special ed training, even mentored other parents, and i still don't completely understand all of the nuances of the idea laws. for someone to be appointed to the highest office in the land in charge of upholding those laws and not be aware of them is unacceptable. it's too big of a learning curve. surely, there are more other qualified candidates

i say no, to betsy devos. host: for more information about that voucher plan, to give a sense of the scope of it, president trump's school voucher plan calls for $20 billion in federal money combined with $110 billion from the states to give the nation's poor students $12,000 each for private school tuition. the tuition could pay for religious schools in boarding schools and academies that focus on a specific subject area or philosophy. danny is in north carolina, republican. caller: good morning. -- i am forestion keeping her, but the reason i'm saying that is the school system is in such failing shape, you look up in your records of 1885, the kansas test to pass the it gratis a lot stricter of one of the -- what they're getting out of college. how many bushels of corn does a lichen hold? one is a ditch that is 200 feet long, two feet wide, how many yards of dirt come out of it? educators talking about what a bad person she is, they should feel to answer those questions like they could an eighth grade. host:

betsy devos is not the right person for the job. ms. devos advocates a concept of industrialized, privatized and for-profit schools. this thinking is too small and too cramped for our kids. our goal should not be vouchers for children to try to shop for school with no accountability for quality. our goal should be a neighborhood school for every child that meets their needs. we cannot abandon the families who cannot afford to make up the difference between the value of the voucher and the tuition at the private school. what do we say to them? we cannot abandon students who cannot get accepted into the private schools because many of these private schools say yes to some and no to others. what do we say to those who have the doors closed on them? we cannot abandon the schools that a voucher program would drain the resources from. $20 billion is a huge amount of resources that we currently provide for schools like the two i mentioned in baltimore city and schools in neighborhoods throughout the country. so instead of a risky voucher progra

that is exactly what betsy devos has said as well. devos has been very clear. she is not trying to promote every state in every district doing charter schools, allowing vouchers or private schools, allowing other options. that is completely the decision of the school. while i have heard people say if she is put into place, she will take away all this money from the schools, that is not her role nor her capacity to even do that. she has been very clear to say all of those decisions are made by local districts and by state legislators and by parents, where the decisions should be made. betsy devos has been very clear -- no child left behind was the wrong direction. 85 members of this body in a very bipartisan way agreed with that two years ago. president obama agreed with that two years ago. and we all said the best place for education decisions to be made is the local level. betsy devos was asked very directly will you go to these districts and try to impose them to be able to put off charter schools and private school access there, and her answer was no. that i

unfortunately, i do not believe that betsy devos is that candidate. while i do not question her intentions, her limited experience and advocacy for policies that fundamentally undermine public education make her unqualified to be the secretary of education. mrs. devos has never participated in the public education system that she would be tasked with overseeing oort as a student -- either as a student or a parent or a teacher or at administrator. i don't see that fact in and of itself alone as disqualifying, but coupled with the policies that she has advocated for in her home state of michigan, pushing for more charter schools while simultaneously working against accountability for them, even as they profit off the backs of children while showing little improvement in student outcomes. advocating for voucher schemes that put public funding into private schools even for families that do not need the additional assistance. while depriving public schools of vital funding that ne depend upon to provide a quality education to every student. it becomes clear

simply put, betsy devos' -- betsy devos is completely unqualified to serve as secretary of education in this great nation. many others share this view. i have heard from thousands of parents and teachers and other citizens of wisconsin who are concerned about the future of our educational system and urging me to oppose mrs. devos and certainly opposing her vision for america's students. as of today, over 20,000 wisconsinites have e-mailed me. we've had over 7,000 phone calls opposing the confirmation of mrs. devos. senate democrats are unified in our opposition to mrs. devos serving in this capacity. even two senate republicans have announced that they cannot support betsy devos. if just one more of my republican colleagues were to announce their opposition, were to vote no, we could do the right thing and tell president trump that he really needs to find a new candidate, a new candidate for secretary of education who is qualified to run that department. now, while betsy devos has spent decades advocating for a particular vision for education, she has never actually worked as a teach

joins us outside from the senator of north dakota, a democrat who is planning on voting against betsy devos. kasie, good to see you. busy day for you. i guess they're all busy days for you. to block devos's nomination, they need three republican senators and we're told the democrats might have a third republican senator willing to vote no. >> we may in fact have an additional third republican senator voting no, which would stop her tomorrow. >> who is she referring to? >> reporter: our understanding from aides is that she was not referring to somebody specific. frankly, our reporting has that count at 50/50, which means that mike pence would come up here to break an historic tie in the senate. he of course is the tiebreaking vote. it's never happened before on a cabinet vote. that's what we've been told by the historian. so we've come up here and we were inside talking to some of the receptionists and listening to their conversations and calls are coming in regularly, many of them, most of them, they're saying 90% of the calls they've received have been focused on devos so there is a lot of

devos, they normally argue for accountability, but knots betsy devos. she -- but not betsy devos. she has a long career of opposing accountability. if you look at an examination of the charter schools she supported, you can figure out why. her charter schools aren't very good. if they had to be measured on equal footing with public schools in michigan, the results would not be an advertisement for her or for her nomination to be secretary of education. in michigan, they setup a system in which there are 30 different regulators of charter schools all with confusing array of different ways that they measure performance. there's no way in michigan to pull out data about how disabled students are doing on a school-by-school basis. they obfuscate the results of charter schools. why? because many of those associated with ms. devos are not getting good results for their kids. that doesn't mean that charter schools can't get good results. many of them can, but if you don't have accountability and you don't require charter schools to prove that they are doing good for kids, then many of th

betsy devos as education secretary. mrs. devos does not have any experience in the field of education and as a result will not effectively lead the department of education in maintaining and improving public education in the country. she did not seem to possess a basic understanding of key education policies, including the responsibilities of the idea act. she did not understand the difference between student proficiency and student growth measures. she did not understand simple facts and figures like the percent increase in student debt from 2008 to 2016. she failed to adequately answer questions on equal protection for lgbt students and their civil rights, confronting campus sexual assault and the regulation of the for-profit higher education industry. this is mrs. howl and she happened to be the alliance of black school educators expressing deep concerns that the nominee doesn't have the basic issues and knowledge of -- that she should have in running this agency nor the passion for them which is so important as the leadin

to ask about betsy devos and her finances. the long record on privatization of public education her vision for this department and the many issues in this department's no five minutes and then cut off. it. >> madam president it was completely unprecedented and absolutely wrong berger never before had been to the committee not a single time i recall that the senator had a question for a nominee and was cut off and blocked from asking for but democrats sitting at the hearing waiting in helping the chairman would change his mind but we worship them and she was protected from the answering additional questions. after we finally got the paperwork and had a number of questions i requested another hearing to ask colonel questions that was a reasonable request but it was rejected. i had a number of questionsab about missing information in your paper work for the committee and she simply had not provided the committee with the required financial disclosures.of not mr. on to addition to not move to vote until the ranking member answers

blasting betsy devos. this is democrats simply do not have the numbers to block her confirmation when she comes up for a final vote later today. they are very close. they have senator murkowski and senator collins. they said they will vote against betsy devos. that means -- and that is the goal of the overnight talk-a-thon -- they only need one republican senator to join them and break against betsy devos. that leading to many impassioned speeches on the floor overnight. >> i feel a personal responsibility to ensure that if i cast my vote as a senator that whoever takes that office will be tireless in the defense of the rights and liberties of you'our students. >> you have people left, right and center. republicans are getting phone calls too. they are getting phone calls too. this is not a democratic strategy. what is happening is we have the wrong person who may be confirmed as the secretary of education. >> reporter: despite the effort by the democrats, officials here on capitol hill say they are confid

>> betsy devos nomination is very personal to many people who live in michigan because betsy devos is from michigan. and her vision of education and her actions have, unfortunately, played a major role in undermining our public schools. amy: the democrats launch a 24-hour protest on the senate floor in a last ditch effort to block the nomination of trump's education secretary. but unless a third republican votes against betsy devos, she be 50-50, will horsing vice president michael the deciding vote. we will speak to california congresswoman maxine waters about devos and why she is already talking about the need to impeach donald trump. >> your words, your actions have shown us that you don't respect us, that both you and all of your nominees for your cabinet us and are dangerous for all of our families. amy: plus, we will take a look at donald trump's foreign russia tom iran to mexico. pres. trump: we are taken advantage of by every nation in the world virtually. it is not going to happen anymore. it is not going to happen anymore. amy: we will speak to harvard professor stephen walt

betsy devos is very different. she is first and foremost a republican and conservative activists and make a donor. she was chair of the michigan republican party. they have donated hundreds of millions of dollars to republicans and conservative groups over the years. second of all, she has spent her career and her fortune bringing the system to privatize and to defend public education and her students and communities. she has no experience with public schools except to the work try to tear them down. she has committed herself for decades to an extreme ideological goal to push students out of public schoolst. and we can public education. she is spent millions of dollars in political donations organizations and super pacs to try to influence elections and policies to encompass that goal. madame president is not p difficult to pick up where she has focus.here the signs are usually pretty easy to see. s where she has succeeded in getting her way too often there are weaker, public schools worse outcomes and fewer true o

>> well, i mean, betsy devos bombed her hearing.et's be real about what mike pence had to go up there, they lost those two republican votes. republicans are the majority here. if they lost a third, she would have been taken down and had to come up with another nominee. and so i think what you really have here, the reality is the democrats don't have the numbers. and the supreme court confirmation bat that will we're about to get into here, you know the republicans will probably need to get 60 votes or change the rules. and that's going to be almost impossible for them. so that's very interesting, but on this, it requires just a simple majority. this wasn't about democratic obstructionism, this is about the fact that devos bombed her hearing and two republicans said they couldn't vote for her. i think it also speaks because she sort of, you know, you know, led to such a big public backlash, i mean, tells you something that 50 other republicans held firm. it tells you about the lack of willingness at the moment to really -- >> taking

that the real debate isn't betsy devos. the real debate is generations of kids that are stuck in underperforming schools. that is a travesty. senator alexander: thank you, senator scott. sen. murphy: thank you, mr. chairman. mr. chairman, at the outset let me just say precedents are funny things. you can contort the past in order to find a precedent that suits the end you are trying to achieve. you cite precedent suggesting that the time of the hearing was as long or longer than other nominees. let's just concede we spent a lot of time during that hearing argue with ourselves about how little time we had, so that was but all in questioning of the nominee. we have precedents that suggests there's never been a hearing where it never has asked, to ask more questions and has been denied that. but the one precedent this committee has had is comedy, is trying to find a way to get along and work with the minority party. i would argue that that president probably the most important was broken into -- broken in that hearing. and mr.

it is not necessarily about betsy devos, not even betsy devos. the for me, the issue is simply an issue of quality education, and i will, without any question, have a very specific conversation on betsy devos. many for me, however, this is simply about quality education and how we get there. my story is familiar to many people in this chamber. i've spoken about it on a number of times. i'll tell you that my entire time in the senate, the four years that i've been here, i've been talking consistently about the power of education and the necessity of quality education. i call it the opportunity agenda, the opportunity agenda which has been my focus for the last four years focuses, first, on education, making sure that every single zip code in america has a quality choice for education. this is so important to me. as a poor kid growing up in a single-parent household, i was not doing very well. and from 7 to 14, i drifted in the wrong direction. as a freshman in high school, i basically flunked out. i failed world geography, i may be the first senat

we were debating betsy devos as if betsy devos single-handedly according to some on the left can single-handedly change the education system in america. this is patently false. she does not have that power. as a matter fact, what she has said consistently if she would rather returned the power to the states, which is the right direction for education. as i spoke with so many of these teachers, many of my teachers came back to mind, teachers like mrs. lynch, who actually failed love mrs. lynch. ms. myers, my spanish teacher, i actually failed her class, too, but they were both really good teachers. i thought about mrs. greensburg, my government teacher, i did decent in government. i thought about mrs. cryer, coach roberts, my fourth grade teacher mrs. lynn, my second spanish teacher. i thought about the dedication and commitment to education, educating me of my teachers. i am a blessed man because in high school i found a path that allowed me to experience much of my potential. but, unfortunately, unfortunately, this is not the way it is throughout our country. some said that the power of educati

and i think betsy devos would be -- >> on betsy devos, you're right.out to sit down with judge gorsuch. >> that's going to be a tougher one, especially for democrats who have made the argument in the past that you should look at this person qualified for the court and not look at their ideology which is the argument when the shoe is on the other foot. but i do think -- i don't think you should underestimate, it's not that the anger at donald trump and not just in the face. i think that the members of congress, democrats in congress feel it, too. and he is not -- his policies are so -- he's taking them to such an extreme on so many different fronts all at the same time without any effort to bring anybody in that i don't think anyone should be real surprised. >> and if they keep just coming up short, what happens there in america? do we get from democratic activists what we got from the tea party, a revolt trying, just coming up short is not good enough? >> it all comes down to elections, right? right now, democrats don't have a lot of power because they

like special education advocates, civil rights advocates, that are concerned about gaps in miss betsy devos' knowledge. a big charter supporter have come out against this devos. she has many fans among republicans and even democrats, like former vice presidential nominee joseph lieberman, but there are many people that are opposed to her that are not part of in one of the teachers unions. host: sylvia from mission, texas, a parent. good morning. caller: good morning. i would like to thank you for giving me the opportunity. , the the school systems new person that is being nominated by president trump, to think, shef people has no education, no background on this issue. well, i believe that nobody comes in with the two feet already with a high level of education and knowing what they are doing. we have teachers, administrators that have been in the post for over 30, 20 years and they still don't know what they are doing. the school systems down here in the valley because we are porter --e with mexico, i mean because we are border town with mexico, i mean the administration and lunches on nee

right now we are expecting betsy devos to be confirmed. again, just with 51 votes, including the vice president of the united states, which as you rightfully point out, would be the first time that that's ever happened for a cabinet nominee, according to the senate historian's office. so, this is -- we're focused on this, though, because this is the only case, really, so far where we have sick republican opposition to a trump nominee. enough to throw it into question. and it's a combination of factors. yes, it's for her ideology and background. she's been very focused on school choice o vouchers. there, of course, is a lot of opposition to that from teachers' unions. frankly, she also didn't perform at her hearing the way that it's often expected. and you have had bipartisan criticism of that. and there was some very difficult moments. she, of course, talked about guns in schools, talked about grizzly bears being a reason why you might have guns in schools. i think more importantly, it's not quite viral of a moment, if you will. but what s

betsy devos. i cannot vote for her confirmation. the department of education's mission is to promote student achievement in preparation for global competitiveness by fostering educational excellence and ensuring equal access. ms. harris: the department achieves this by establishing policies on federal financial aid for education and distributing as well as monitoring those funds. collecting data on america's schools and disseminating research, focusing national attention on key educational issues, prohibiting discrimination, and ensuring equal access to education. and after considering that mission, i do not believe betsy devos should be the next secretary of education. surely we can agree every child in the united states should have access to a first-rate education to ensure a chance of a good job and good pay. i know this from my own life experiences and in particular the impact that a good teacher can have on a young child. you see, my first grade teacher, mrs. francis wilson, god rest her soul, attended my law school graduation.

president votes in the affirmative and the nomination is confirmed. >> the 51-50 vote to confirm betsy devos. just moments ago, devos tweeted this. "i appreciate the senate's diligence and i'm honored to serve as education secretary. let's improve options and outcomes for all u.s. students." our senior congressional reporter manu raju is joining us live from capitol hill right now. manu, this is unprecedented, historic first for the vice president to cast the tiebreaking vote. >> reporter: absolutely, wolf. we have not seen this before. this shows how controversial of a nominee this was. lisa murkowski and susan collins expressing their view days ago. mitch mcconnell knew they were voting "no" which caused them to have jeff sessions stay in the vote to cast a vote and forced mike pence to come in here and vote "yes" breaking that tie. this came after a pretty dramatic and intense pressure campaign organized by liberal groups and teacher unions to flood senators' offices with phone calls in people with blue states like pat toomey of pennsylvania to convince him to vote against betsy devos. i

can we talk a little bit about betsy devos?any charter schools across the nation are actually not private schools. i got a niece and one down in dallas, texas, it's a public school. you have been there in new york. the criticism of her only being cozy or knowledgeable about private schools with regard to charter, i think it's an interesting one. >> sandra: megan, you pointed out to many occasions, they're not criticizing her track recor record. >> meghan: it's interesting because rex tillerson is controversial. he's not being called the worst pick in the history of the country by chuck schumer. i do find this to be shrouded in sexism. i find it -- i don't know if they would be saying this -- they didn't do it to rex tillerson. i don't understand why the anger is so intense with her, other than she is complete look at the way public schools are run from a complete a different lens, different angle. wanting to take a second look at charter schools. i don't know. i think what's happening to her is really unfortunate. >> abby: it's

those folks are strongly behind betsy devos, those. mitch mcconnell says this is the slowest cabinet process. george washington, of course was thrilled because he was at starting a whole new system of government. republicans are making the case that democrats have just been running the clock. they are doing this needlessly and trying to deprive the new president of his full team. today is a critical vote in the senate for one member of president trump's team and we know the senate wants to get four cabinet secretaries done this week. an ambitious schedule in the senate which is not known for moving quickly after divorce, there would liked to do jeff sessions for attorney general, price and steve minutiae. if they run all the hours. saturday morning before we are done, that's why this and it. we await vice president pence's arrival on capitol hill. >> jon: at mike emanuel on a day in which history is excited to be made. never before has a vice president had to cast a tie-breaking vote for a nomination of cabinet secretary. we'll see it

on a razors edge, 50 senators democrats and republicans, will vote to reject betsy devos. and we need just one more republican to join us, to stand on the side of students and parents and public education in america, and say no to betsyo kc devos. off so, mada, madam president, i coo the fore today to kickoff the final day of debate on this nomination. i spoke at length on friday making my case for why the senate should oppose betsy devos. and democrats will hold of the floor for the next 24 hours until the final vote to do everything we can to persuade just one more republican to join us. and i strongly encourage people -- >> some of the debate from yesterday that we will take you now to the use of capital live for remarks by senate democrats after the confirmation of education secretary at the devos earlier. >> okay, i'm proud to be joined by three of my colleagues, all of whom are distinguished, intelligent, erudite members of the judiciary committee sender why does, blumenthal, and senator hirono. a couple of hours ago i met with the judge gorsuch to discuss his nominat

betsy devos has energized the fight back. my organization, the network for public education, we were moving along, we had 25,000 members and in a period of two months, we're over 350,000 members. we have members in every community in this country and they're angry and they want to save their schools and their parents and teachers. and we're not the unions, and so we will coordinate -- there are now groups forming in every state in this country to fight back republicans, democrats, independents. they believe in public education. she has awakened the sleeping giant. >> we clearly have the skill, do we have the will? >> that's going to be determined in the next four years, it isn't just betsy devos, it's about all kinds of services, public services, that this administration will privatize if given the chance. >> thank you for your work, and your insights. >> thank you. >> good to have you on. >> that's our show for tonight. good night from los angeles, thanks for watching. and as always, keep the faith. >>> for more information

betsy devos is a billionaire from michigan who does not have a lot of education experience, especiallyo public education experience. she did not attend public school herself and she never worked in a public school, but she has donated millions to the republican party and toward conservative issues. many centers have -- senators have spoken against her, one saying she is perhaps the worst cabinet pick in history. we also heard from tim kaine earlier today and susan collins. >> we need a secretary of education who understands that our education system is a public trust, and not simply a vehicle that allows for profit schools and big banks to make a pfi investments. sam: again, all 50, excuse me, all democrats are expected to republicans,two which means it would be a 50-50 tie and the vice president would have to be the tie-breaker. we expect the vote to happen at any time. sam sweeney, back to you. jummy: thank you. putting national security at risk, that is what the donald trump administration feels a court is doing by blocking the travel ban. and oral arguments are set to begin. we are

betsy devos is the education secretary. >> denomination is confirmed. jane: israel's controversy over settlement law is condemned as an act of aggression by the palestinian president. we look at what happens to humans when robots do all of the work. welcome to "world news america." it was billed as a knife edge event, so it proved. the senate confirmed donald forp's controversial choice education secretary, betsy devos, by the slimmest of margins. the0, forcing vice-president to break the tie. the first time that vote has been needed to secure a cabinet pick. nays arees are 50, the 50. the vice president votes in the affirmative, and the nomination is confirmed. jane: the president has his nominee in place, but the effort it has taken has left the white house spokesman sean spicer less than impressed. >> the fact that the vice president had to overcome the lobbying'historic is another glaring reminder of the unprecedented obstruction the senate democrats have engaged in throughout this process. those democrats who try to stop the nomination was senator

they want betsy devos to know their stance. they want her to know they did not support her, but they want her to be successful because if she is successful, that all of the public schools and the students will be successful. the teachers union said they want betsy devos to know that they support free public schools and equal educational opportunities for all children. just be say it will not union members but parents, teachers, and other supporters of public school outside. again, they say it will be peaceful, and they will be here to welcome betsy devos to the school. reporting live in southwest, i am sam sweeney. back to you. larry: 6:06 now. authorities are trying to determine what made dozens of local elementary school students sick. 80 students and all worsen home from oak ridge elementary in arlington after the reported a severe stomach issue. close places, the norovirus, such as cruise ships and even schools. sanitize, keep everything clean, and keep his home when they are sick. it is hard. >> we got a note saying to was

. >> they're hoping to convince one more republican not to promote betsy devos. >> good morning, guys, it's a final stand here from the democrats with really the slimmest chance of success. senate rules say there can be 30 hours of debate before a final confirmation vote. democrats say thin tend to use every bit of it. you are sewing chris murphy from connecticut what took the floor at 4 this morning. this was going since midnight. they're trying to convince one more repubca against beltcy devos for education secretary. let's tell you about who betsy is and why people say she's controversial. michigan billionaire. conservative activist, big money donor to causes including arts and republican party. her web site says disrupt ter, advocate fighting to remove barriers and enact change. she believes in charter schools and re directing money from public school to support school choice. critics are hitting hard at devos lack of experience with public school and lack of experience with student loans and lack of knowledge of laws protecting special education and that's been the continuous mes

know that all democrats plan to oppose betsy devos. tor joe manchin of wecame o with a statement saying he will ouls oppose devos. that means the white house might have to be willing to go to the mat to get devos concerned. they might have to send mike pence, the vice president, up here to senate to break the tie. that's only possible if no other republican senators break away from this. there are other moderate republican senators under immense pressure. dean heller of nevada. the state of nevada where unions are very important, hold a lot of sway. senator shelly moore caputo can expect a conversation with joe manchin, her colleague. west virginia does not have charter schools, according to joe manchin, so his concern has been, he says, with public schools. he's arguing that she should be concerned with that as well. so, we're going to be watching very closely to see if there's one more republican senator willing to break ranks here. either way, betsy devos, her nomination teerting right now in the senate. >> let me -- forgive me if yo

a dramatic ending to the nomination of betsy devos for secretary of education. nd it came after 24 straight hours of debate, when democrats held a rare overnight speech-a- thon to oppose devos. but the primary doubt came from two republicans, susan collins of maine and lisa murkowski of alaska. both said devos' confirmation hearing led them to vote no. democrats like ohio's sherrod brown tried to persuade convince other republicans. >> as many have said on this floor, based on her confirmation hearing, it appears she has a complete lack of knowledge as to what the department of education actually does. >> reporter: but a number of republicans, like tennessee's lamar alexander, defended devos. >> she led the most effective public school reform movement over the last 30 years. and i urge you to give the new president the opportunity to choose his own education secretary. >> reporter: devos is known as a "school-choice" activist, who supports for-profit charter schools, and wants public funds to be used as vouchers for private schools. she's also a billionaire, who,

and still going. >> betsy devos is completely unqualified to serve as secretary of education in this great nation. >> if they get one more republican to flip, devos is done. >>> and the battle over the ban rages on. legal arguments set for today. president trump's justice department arguing to reinstate the travel ban calling it a matter of national security. terror. terror, truth and the news. the president claims the media deliberately doesn't cover terror attacks. >> in many cases, the very, very dishonest press doesn't want to. >> the white house list of underreported attacks is now out and causing more controversy. >>> an nbc news exclusive. the target of the navy s.e.a.l. raid in yemen is revealed. the terror leader still at large and now taunting trump, calling him a fool. so much to cover today. we begin with "d" day for betsy devos with the senate posed to vote at high noon. right now, it appears the vote will be 50-50. that means vice president mike pence would have to swoop in to cast an historic deciding vote to approve devos. senate democrats are not backing down, launch

let's talk about betsy devos in michigan. did you as a michiganer get a sense of what she meant by advancing god's kingdom through the schools? >> well, i mean, i'm not quite sure what her motivation is, i just know that the results have been disastrous. so if she thinks somehow she's going to be able to bring her faith to the public square, she should consult the document that she just swore an oath to, the u.s. constitution. but really the issue is the terrible failed experiment that she is the chief architect of, and that's michigan's charter movement. >> and what specifically has gone wrong with it? because a lot of people think of charter schools and they think of "waiting for superman" they think of good schools poor kids can go to. what's wrong in michigan? >> one of the things i discovered when i got here to washington is that there are charter schools that really work, mostly in other states and michigan's charter system, which, again, she has continued to push to maintain in its current form, has been an unmitigated

democratic senators were up on oppose betsy devos.senators were up on the floor all night long with a parliamentary stunned to try and stop her confirmation, and yet you failed. 0n this confirmation that you have put so much effort into opposing, democrats have failed. doesn't say much for your ability to oppose the president. this will be the first time in american history a vice president has to be called in to cast the tie—breaking vote to make it possible for cabinet nominee to advance. it is a reminder that in a 52-48 advance. it is a reminder that in a 52—48 republican—controlled senate we will only be able to stop president trump's road nominees if we are able to persuade more than two republicans to cross the aisle andjoin two republicans to cross the aisle and join us. given the disastrous confirmation of betsy devos, her record of opposition to traditional public schools and her thin record of positive ideas for how to improve education i'm really stunned that we weren't able to persuade one more republican to the aisle and