Al Franken: “I thank the Presiding Officer. Mr. President, I rise this evening in opposition to the nomination of Betsy DeVos to be…”

“I thank the Presiding Officer. Mr. President, I rise this evening in opposition to the nomination of Betsy DeVos to be our next Secretary of Education. This is one of the most important jobs in our government. The Department of Education bears responsibility for making sure that every child in America has the opportunity to fulfill his or her potential, which means that the Secretary of Education has an enormous amount of power to shape our Nation's future. This is not a job for amateurs. President Obama's first Secretary of Education was Arne Duncan, who had spent 7\1/2\ years building a record of accomplishment as CEO of Chicago's public school system, previous to which he had been director of a mentoring program and the founder of a charter school. When Secretary Duncan stepped down, he was replaced by Dr. John King, Jr., the recipient of a doctorate in education administrative practice. He had served as Deputy Secretary under Arne Duncan and was previously the education commissioner for the State of New York. Each brought to the job a background in public education that informed their understanding of what students, parents, teachers, and administrators need in order to succeed, which brings me to Betsy DeVos. There are reasons to be skeptical about Mrs. DeVos's nomination right off the bat. As my Republican colleague, Senator Collins of Maine, put it: ``The mission of the Department of Education is broad, but supporting public education is at its core.'' Well, in Mrs.…”