Credit: Architect of the Capitol(WASHINGTON) — The Senate will hold an uncommon Friday morning vote to advance the confirmation of President Donald Trump’s nominee to head the Department of Education, Betsy DeVos.
The vote will be held at 6:30 a.m. Friday and would set up a final confirmation vote next week. DeVos has faced mounting pressure from constituents and lost the support of at least two Republican senators.
On Thursday, multiple senators said they were swamped by calls from their constituents, many of whom were concerned about DeVos’ nomination.
Sen. Bob Casey, D-Penn., has been a vocal critic of DeVos. He told one caller that “getting the word out” and “volume of activity in some other states” was “starting to turn things around. Casey received 80,000 emails and letters about DeVos and answered calls personally on Thursday.
Your calls are working. We only need one more Republican vote to block the nomination of Betsy DeVos. pic.twitter.com/i3db7jq4Kc
— Senator Bob Casey (@SenBobCasey) February 2, 2017
Republican senators Lisa Murkowski from Alaska and Susan Collins from Maine announced on Wednesday that they would vote against Devos.
“I have heard from thousands — truly thousands of Alaskans who have shared their concerns about Mrs. DeVos as Secretary of Education” Murkowski said. “Their concerns center, as mine do, on Mrs. DeVos’ lack of experience with public education and the lack of knowledge she portrayed at her confirmation hearing.”
One more Republican flipping could sink DeVos’ nomination.
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