The Washington Post reports that Senate Democrats will aggressively question 8 of Trump’s cabinet picks. One is the totally unqualified Betsy DeVos.
“Democratic senators plan to aggressively target eight of Donald Trump’s Cabinet nominees in the coming weeks and are pushing to stretch their confirmation votes into March — an unprecedented break with Senate tradition.
“Such delays would upend Republican hopes of quickly holding hearings and confirming most of Trump’s top picks on Inauguration Day. But Democrats, hamstrung by their minority status, are determined to slow-walk Trump’s picks unless they start disclosing reams of personal financial data they’ve withheld so far, according to senior aides.
“Incoming Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) has told Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) that Democrats will home in especially on Rex Tillerson, Trump’s choice for secretary of state; Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), his pick for attorney general; Rep. Mick Mulvaney (R-S.C.), tapped to lead the Office of Management and Budget; and Betsy DeVos, selected to serve as education secretary.
“There’s also Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.), Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services and oversee changes to Obamacare, who is expected to be attacked by Democrats for his support for privatizing Medicare. Andrew Puzder, a restaurant executive set to serve as labor secretary, will face scrutiny for past comments on the minimum wage, among other policies. Steve Mnuchin, a former Goldman Sachs partner set to serve as treasury secretary, and Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, Trump’s pick to lead the EPA, will also be the focus of Democratic attacks, aides said.”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I’m surprised Trump, a man who lost by 2.8M votes and will be the least popular presidency at his inauguration probably ever, is pursuing unpopular (and on a downward trajectory) programs like vouchers and the ppl who support them.
But, then, I doubt even he realizes how much he’s been had by the unpopular far-right agenda, who must be counting their blessings they’ve found a stooge like him. In the unlikely event he watches, maybe Devos’s hearings will give him a clue.
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People better wake up. The Trump/Ryan Medicare plan is essentially a huge new tax on people over 65. They’ll be paying double or triple out of pocket for Medicare than they are now.
I honestly do not know how they think most people are going to be able to pay that, since most people don’t have any retirement savings at all. They simply won’t have the money.
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Many seniors can barely pay the current co-pays. The co-pays have increased dramatically in the past ten years since I managed my mother’s Medicare. Ryan is totally out of touch. The worst part of his proposal is it costs a lot more for a lot less care and makes no sense.
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New Year’s Prediction —
Dems will fold like Lady Windermere’s Fan
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If we pressure our senators, they will pressure the candidates. Cause and effect. I’ve already written to my senators about my concerns with Betsy DeVos. I hope everyone else who reads this blog will do the same!
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Sereia, thank you for writing your senators. It is important that you call their local and district offices in your state.
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I have done so too, w/extra paragraphs for Cory Booker…
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“Progressive” senator Sherrod Brown, might be considered to be in a bit of a pickle. Last year, he asked for and received $71 mil. to expand charter schools, in the state. I presume DeVos is selling evangelical schools. Ohio’s evangelicals helped elect Trump. But, as observers say, Brown always buckles on legislative financial issues so, he’ll be back in D.C., next election, talking a good game, while buckling on progressive legislation and appointments.
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I posted this last month, but I think it’s worth repeating:
“As a former Capitol Hill staffer, I can tell you that the calls mean nothing unless they are part of a flood of calls.
“Every caller should ask for the legislative assistant in charge of education issues. If they don’t put you through or say that the staffer is not available, as for the name and email address. If you do get through, make a note of contact information. Then follow up with emails to the office referencing your call, mention the staffer and, if applicable, if your impression was positive or negative; were they professional and responsive? Call again at the beginning of the year and before the vote is scheduled. Ask for the legislative assistant by name on follow-ups.
“Leave your name, address and phone number and ask for a follow-up message when the vote is taken. Also share the name of any education staffers with other constituents and ask them to do the same.
“If you care about education issues, you should become a buddy or a thorn in the side of that staffer. Be prepared to go back to step one if there is turnover in the position.”
I would add to Diane’s suggestion to include state and local elected officials who have education jurisdictions.
Effective lobbying is hard work. An occasional letter or call is mostly ignored unless, as I wrote above, it is joined by a groundswell of similar voices. Virtually all calls and letters are handled by lower level staffers. Once a minimum threshold is reached, their responses have to be approved by higher level staffers, more than that, the language will have to be approved by the boss.
Lastly, report your experiences back to NPE. They can help link constituents of key policy makers.
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Speaking as a devil’s advocate- Could the intent of the anonymous “capitol hill staffer” be nefarious, to wear down good people, who are the enemy of the richest 0.1% ? Having been an unpaid foot soldier, on a successful, well-funded, well-organized campaign to defeat noxious legislation, it’s very high burn-out, even when there’s a win.
Would a better strategy be, to find out who owns the politician, find people who can amass an amount similar to what the opposition is giving, hand it over to the representative, with the promise of votes, when the rep. sides with citizens?
In an alleged pay-to-play state, like Ohio, it, apparently, takes very little money to persuade a state senator or rep..
I agree with the “staffer’s”, point, that D.C. senators and reps., have one objective, sticking around D.C. (or, landing opportunities after).
Pondering how Ohioans could make, “progressive” Sen. Sherrod Brown, abandon charter school support, these are the salient points. He should have been an easy sell. He talks about caring about Ohioans (the need for shared values). He is fully aware of the abysmal performance of Ohio charter schools. He is receiving lots of input, from voters against charter schools. The number of voters, in favor of charters, must be very limited. Political support, for charters, in the state, comes almost exclusively from the opposition party- Republican. On the other hand, charter supporters are high-visibility, well-funded and highly connected in D.C. I presume Brown’s scared that one of the outside groups, like Falwell’s, will come in at election time with ads against him.
The solution, IMO, is not repetitive activist ships, staffed, provisioned and steered by individuals, for each anti-corporate/abuse of the 99%, issue and appointment, as the “staffers” suggest. But, I could be wrong.
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“Would a better strategy be, to find out who owns the politician…”
I see where you are coming from, but respectfully, no, I don’t think that’s a good strategy. You are very, very (did I write very?) correct about “high burn-out.” That’s why I fear a collective exhaustion of the opposition/resistance to Trumpism. But that’s the system we have.
If we are satisfied with the anonymous Capitol Hill staffer taking our calls and sending noncommittal form letters to constituents, then we can’t hope for much. That’s business as usual, the message rarely gets up to the top, and nothing changes. It only works when the switchboards are clogged with calls and all other business on the Hill is put aside. In my time in DC, the only times that happened was during the Clarence Thomas nomination and anti-abortion lobby days. I don’t think we can muster that kind of response with DeVos. Saving Medicare, the Affordable Care Act, etc. will have more chances to gather a number of grassroots calls.
So, like everything else, it’s about relationships and persistence. I hate to be repetitive, but if you do not know the name of the Legislative Assistant on your issue (or Legislative Director or Chief of Staff) you will not be very effective. You need to share that name with fellow constituents who agree with you. You need to check in with them 2-4 times a year. You need to organize meetings with the member of Congress/Senator when they are in your area. At a minimum, for those who can’t get to DC, you have to organize meetings with the head of local offices. You need to be articulate, aware of the nuances of your issue, and be non-confrontational. It’s not easy and could lead to burn-out, especially with the range of issues that we as citizens will have to address soon.
As for Brown, I have found him to be responsive and a good listener. I strongly believe, although I’ve never discussed education with him or his staff, that he could be educated. The positions that he has taken on education are philosophically at odds with his worldview. I’m not sure if he is aware of that. We have to remember that we can’t expect members of Congress to be experts on everything. But he is teachable and responsive.
With respect to education issues, I’m more worried about my member of Congress, Marcia Fudge. She is a member of the House Education Committee. When I had a chance to ask her about an education issue at a forum a few years ago, I found her to be woefully uninformed and resorting to shallow, partisan platitudes that meant absolutely nothing. When I did some research on her work in education, I realized she had little-to-no understanding of what it means to be a teacher. And I don’t think she is teachable; she lectures constituents, doesn’t listen or respond.
But like everything in life, effective lobbying is all about relationships and sincerity. Unless you’re dealing with an ideologue.
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I’m with Jon on DeVos,
She will get confirmed. They will make a little show of hard questions for her and that will be it.
In the larger scheme of things, DeVos is small potatoes. Also, and lets be fully honest with ourselves, from a policy point of view DeVos and he Dems have the most common ground. DeVos is a privatizers and school reformer. Most dems are too.
Her awful religio-insanity is unsettling, but her policies will inevitably be fairly well aligned with where most Dems are on Ed.
Lets not go through all this whathaveyou for the next 4 or 8 years…..the whole false hope but soooo obviously not hopeful thing.
DeVos makes it. And even if she doesn’t, another crazy school privatizer/reformer will.
Education is where dems and crazy folk like DeVos find common ground. Dont forget it. We haven’t cleaned up our side yet. Thinking anything else is an exercise in splitting hairs and delusion.
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Oh I don’t know about that. DeVos isn’t just any old ed-reform privatizer. She’s a loud voice for vouchers in the interests of getting public money to support religious schools. That might alienatequite a few Dems. Plus she’s got all those ppwk issues that come with being a billionaire.
However, might we be better off w/her, strategically speaking, than w/a typical ed-reformer? She’s very upfront about her extremist Christian-right views. She’s also been a huge CCSS supporter, which TP folks hate, noting on their blog comments that vouchers have brought state-mandated stds into their private schools. Might be easier to organize political pressure at the state level against openly all-voucher ‘hi-stds wink-wink’ fed mandates, especially as there’s more wiggle-room under ESSA.
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“which TP folks hate, noting on their blog comments that vouchers have brought state-mandated stds into their private schools. ”
I wondered about that. You would think parents who are sending their kids to religious schools would object to vouchers. Aren’t they just turning religious schools into secular schools?
If they’re all state contractors then what’s the difference?
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Corey Booker was on the Alliance for School Choice board with DeVos:
Click to access Confronting-Challenges-Creating-Opportunities-July-2008.pdf
“As your president, I will be the nation’s biggest cheerleader for school choice,”
Another cheerleader for charters and vouchers. Does anyone in DC ever advocate on behalf of the 90% of children who attend the unfashionable public sector schools?
Democrats will argue charters and vouchers should be regulated and Republicans will argue charters and vouchers should be unregulated and public schools will get the shaft, again. The privatization decision has already been made in DC. They’re all just quibbling over details. I’ll be surprised if there’s a single mention of existing public schools unless it’s to call them “failing”.
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Are Democrats proud of their record on public schools? Can anyone name one thing they’ve done for kids in existing public schools in the last 8 years?
Other than vastly expanding charters, what IS the Democratic agenda for the 90% of kids who attend public schools? Testing, we know that. Public school kids must test. Anything else?
So the Democratic agenda for public schools is opening more and more charters and testing kids in public schools? So if you’re a Democratic voter with kids in public schools the Democrats offer “testing”. No wonder they lost. They have no positive agenda for 90% of kids.
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If you read ed reformers you’ll see they were halfway to “backpack vouchers” well before DeVos.
It’s just a matter of time before the whole “movement” goes far Right. They go further towards privatization every year.
“Agnostics” are lousy advocates. The choice zealots beat them every time.
When you have a situation where it’s mushy “agnostics” versus ideologically committed “choice” zealots the mushy agnostics will lose every time. That’s why public schools do so poorly under ed reform governance. They have no passionate, committed advocates in DC.
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Florida has over $70,000 students on “scholarships” to various schools from businesses that get tax credits. This, in turn, reduces the business tax, and residents have to pick up the tab. Most people don’t understand that they are paying for this.
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I emailed Brown and Portman (Ohio Senators) and told them 90% of kids in Ohio attend public schools, so I expect them to advocate on behalf of public schools.
I don’t think this is an outrageous request- asking US Senators to support public schools but who knows? They’re all so utterly captured by this “movement” I don’t think anyone from outside it gets through.
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Do you think Brown and Portman are scared that Falwell or, the Koch’s will come in, with money, at election time to defeat them- a causal factor for deafness?
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When Trump and DeVos trot out the ed reform slogans bashing public schools, can someone ask them about this?
Here’s Donald Trump’s book report on Lincoln:
“Trump’s answer would have made a third-grader proud:
Well, I think Lincoln succeeded for numerous reasons. He was a man who was of great intelligence, which most presidents would be. But he was a man of great intelligence, but he was also a man who did something that was a very vital thing to do at that time. Ten years before or 20 years before, what he was doing would never have even been thought possible. So he did something that was a very important thing to do, and especially at that time. And Nixon failed, I think to a certain extent, because of his personality. You know? It was just that personality. Very severe, very exclusive. In other words, people couldn’t come in. And people didn’t like him. I mean, people didn’t like him.”
Trump’s a product of private schools, is he not? Is he really in any position to lecture anyone on education? This is the best he can come up with?
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In the entire history of our republic, only about nine(9) cabinet appointees have been rejected by the senate. see
http://blog.constitutioncenter.org/2013/01/five-presidential-cabinet-nominations-that-were-rejected/
The senate almost automatically defers to the President, in his selection of his cabinet.
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Cemab4y,
Why wasn’t Merrick Garland confirmed?
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There is supposedly a maneuver by which Biden could appoint him today, if the Dems have the nerve to do it.
on jugera …
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It would only be good for one year. Is anyone willing to take that post since there is no future in it?
I also doubt that the Dems are that bold.
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Merrick Garland was submitted for a Supreme Court position. Supreme Court justices serve for life. As of 2010, 151 people have been nominated, and 29 failed to make the cut (including men who declined to serve).
The senate majority leader, refused to even hold a hearing on judge Garland. (As is his prerogative )
Cabinet secretaries serve at the pleasure of the president, and he/she can call in their resignation at any time.
You can be certain that any Trump nominations to the Supreme Court, will be thoroughly grilled by the judiciary committee.
Most, if not all, of Trump’s cabinet nominations, will “sail” through, with very little controversy.
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Cemab4y,
You are a comic. Trump could nominate Cruela DeVille to the Supreme Court and she would be approved.
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I have more faith in the US Senate. The Senate is constitutionally charged, to advise and consent to Supreme Court appointments. I sincerely believe, that any Trump appointee will get a thorough examination.
Supreme Court justices serve for life. Ronald Reagan, had a Republican majority in the Senate, and his appointees were examined and vetted thoroughly.
Trump will send up an appointee soon, to fill the vacancy created by the death of Scalia. Trump will most likely get other vacancies to fill.
Let’s see.
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Cemab4y,
I have some faith in Lindsey Graham and John McCain. Olympia Snowe. Lamar Alexander (but he won’t oppose DeVos). Can’t think of any other Republican senators with a sense of honor or decency. Do you know any?
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The GOP does not play by the rules of honor or decency. If they did, the position would already be filled with a well-vetted moderate justice. Graham, McCain, Snowe, and their ilk always make a Big Shew of maverick integrity but invariably toe the Party Line in the end.
Post Palin, mavericks just ain’t what they used to be.
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Republicans want to kill the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, repeal Dodd-Frank, get rid of ‘burdensome’ school lunch standards, tobacco regulations, laws that set higher wages for contractors, Paris climate-chafe agreement, allow concealed weapons to be carried across state lines and change Social Security and Medicare.
I really don’t understand why people vote against their own best interests. Government has laws which help to protect people. Has ignorance really brought us this far down?
………
Headline: Claiming mandate, GOP Congress lays plans to propel sweeping conservative agenda By David Weigel Washington Post
http://wapo.st/2iybs7o?tid=ss_mail
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Democrats had a supper majority and the House. in 08 .
A Republican minority was able to box them in. With a slim majority Democrats will not box in Republicans.
Barf bag please.
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super
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Supper is appropriate, just the wrong meal. The Dems had their lunch eaten.
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Here’s another good article by Chris Hedges. 😦
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/defying_donald_trumps_kleptocracy_20170101
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Great link Mamie!
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I’m not sure everyone gets the depths to which our side has lost the narrative war. The reformers/privatizers have truly gained control of the public dialog. I’d argue that this has occurred, in large part, because of the acceptance by DEMOCRATS of huge swaths of the reform/privatizer agenda.
That many of us do not acknowledge this, and are actually arguing that somehow there is a lot of daylight (or any!) between DeVos’ agenda and most Democrats agenda and policies on education is fortelling quite a devastating 4 and maybe 8 years for us. (On top of the past 10+ years of devastation)
Current Democrats are not going to prevent DeVos’ assention. Nor will they save public education. Arguing otherwise is deeply counterfactual.
http://www.politico.com/story/2017/01/jeb-bushs-consolation-prize-233097
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De acuerdo.
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DeVos is here NOT BY CHANCE. Blame the DNC’s HUBRIS.
The U.S. citizens have been brainwashed tino thinking that they they only have two choices … DEMs or REPs. I mean really?
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Its not so much about the need for a third party…..I’ve never been a third party type advocate.
Its about organzing and influencing the party that is closest to one’s ideals. Its about creating a political environment where the party cannot ignore their constituents. The right has done this successfully (and in the most scary way possible). We on the left are actually not good in these past decades at this.
This means successful, cohesive narratives that are not ignorable by the party. This means organizing to inflict consequences at the polls. This means becoming unignorable.
On the education front, we have failed at this so completely and thoroughly that our side and our basic position of not privatizing schools is barely on the radar.
The whole “we need a third party” thing is an extension of the savior complex that has hobbled our side from the beginning. The desire for a viable third party is simply a manifestation of the unchecked desire to have a savior swoop in and save the day. That doesnt happen, won’t happen, nor should we expect it or want it. Again, we are our only saviors. Politically that means doing the hard work of insisting that the democratic party hear us. That is not a gentle process. Its aggressive, loud, creative, confrontational, and certaily not afraid of the articulation of anger. It certainly means alot more than strongly worded letters to one’s congressperson. The left used to be the side of political action, agitation, organization, and creative impressment of will and ideals. This is no longer the case. The true political force in our country as of today is on the right. They dominate almost all narratives and they have created a culture that reinforces all of the narratives continually.
If our side is to survive this war of extermination against public education, it has to wage a much larger, broader, and more effective defense and then offense.
We are currently being anhiliated.
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This comment isn’t about DeVos but it is a statement concerning Trump’s ‘acceptable behavior’ of boys being boys. Trump has a disdain of women. The article sees a slim silver lining in making it clear that unwanted touching of women is a form of abuse and needs to be labeled as such. Recognizing this abuse is a step towards a safer world for women.
I don’t understand why anyone would believe such behavior in a Presidential candidate is perfectly fine and that he is worthy of the job. Where is our sense of outrage at this man who has no morals? Why is his abuse of women not important?
What Trump Taught America About Sexual Assault
By Christina Cauterucci, Slate
…proud admissions of sexual assault, an inability to see women as anything but sex objects, and a penchant for sexual humiliation were not enough to keep the country’s least-qualified major party nominee in history out of the White House. For anyone who voted for Donald Trump, bald-faced racism and sexism were not the deal-breakers they should have been. Hatred of women was on the ballot in November, and it won.
But there is a thin, tarnished silver lining to the platform Trump gave to his misogynist worldview this year. As both the president-elect and his alleged victims described the uninvited sexual contact he regularly imposed upon women, mainstream observers were made to consider that the more minor violations they described—forced kisses, gropes, and grabs—belonged on the spectrum of sexual assault…
These incidents were not rapes. They were all-too-common sexual violations that are often brushed off by perpetrators, bystanders, and victims alike as misunderstandings or harmless, standard male behavior. … Hearing the disturbing details of Trump’s alleged assaults and zooming out to see his pattern of exploitation caused some women to reevaluate abuses they’d previously written off…
It’s a traumatic experience to realize that what once seemed like petty instances of boys being boys were actual sexual assaults diminished by a rape culture that normalizes unwanted touch. But confronting the real harm of these violations—and the misogyny and entitlement to women’s bodies that undergirds them—is a necessary step toward establishing a safer world for women…
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