was there not enough time to question her? I wonder. We treated her just like we did President Obama's Education Secretaries. She offered to meet with the Democrats in December. They refused. She finally met with them in their offices. Then she testified for 90 minutes longer than either of President Obama's Education Secretaries before our committees. Then there were followup questions. We asked President Obama's Education Secretaries 53 and 56 questions; they asked her 1,400 questions. Then they met, and one of their Members announced that they all agreed to vote against her before she had a chance to answer the questions. What does that say about those questions? She has conflicts of interest? We have a procedure for that, an independent conflicts of interest office, the Office of Government Ethics. The head was appointed by President Obama, confirmed by the Senate. He has an agreement with every Cabinet member about conflicts of interest. He wrote a letter to us 8 days before we voted on her and said she would have no conflict of interest if she followed this agreement. So plenty of time for questions, no conflict of interest. What is the problem? One, her support for public charter schools. Some people don't like that. But 2.7 million children attend them. They were founded by the Democratic Farmer-Labor Party in Minnesota. They have now grown to 6,800 schools. They are the most effective public school reform in 30 years. School choice.…
On the recordFebruary 6, 2017
Said by
Heidi Alexander
Labour Party
Source
govinfo.govShare
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