Senate Democrats Plan All-Night Debate Ahead of DeVos Vote

Senate Democrats plan to spend the next 24 hours speaking on the Senate floor in a last-ditch effort to derail the confirmation of Betsy DeVos, President Trump’s nominee for education secretary.

DeVos
U.S. Capitol at Night/iStock

DeVos’s confirmation vote is scheduled for tomorrow, Tuesday February 7th, at noon. All 48 members of the Senate Democratic caucus are expected to oppose her, along with two Republicans, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine. Democrats need just one more Republican to flip to defeat the nomination, and they are hoping their 24-hour speech-a-thon will ratchet up the pressure.

If no other Republican defects, the Senate would likely deadlock at 50-50, requiring a tiebreaking vote by the President of the Senate, Vice President Pence. That would mark the first time a vice president’s tiebreaking vote would be needed to confirm a Cabinet nominee.

You can stream the Senate’s debate on c-span.org:

NAfME staff will provide updates as necessary. 

Tooshar Swain, Policy Advisor, Center for Advocacy, Policy, and Constituency Engagement, January 16, 2017. © National Association for Music Education (NAfME.org)