Published: January 2017

Five senators should recuse themselves from confirming Education nominee

Five U.S. senators on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) committee received hundreds of thousands of dollars in political contributions from President-elect Trump’s nominee for Sec. of Education, Betsy DeVos. As a body entrusted with vetting this nominee and examining her views on public policy, the Senate must uphold the strongest ethical standards throughout the nomination process. These generous contributions present an egregious conflict of interest and we demand these recipients recuse themselves from voting on her confirmation as U.S. Secretary of Education.

President-elect Donald Trump's nominee for U.S. Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos, along with her husband, Dick DeVos Jr., the son of the founder of Amway, are known as big-time donors to Republican candidates and groups. After spending a few weeks reviewing Betsy DeVos’s political contributions, our coalition advocates found that 21 senators, including five on the Senate HELP Committee, took over $200k from DeVos in campaign contributions. These donations present a significant conflict of interest for the senators charged with overseeing and voting on the nominee’s confirmation. We ask that all five senators recuse themselves from her confirmation hearing and vote.

 

 

Lead Organization

Generation Progress

Other Organizations

Generation Progress | Higher Ed, Not Debt | Student Debt Crisis | One Wisconsin Now| Campaign for America’s Future | CT Citizen Action Group | Education Opportunity Network | Public Higher Education Network | Democracy Matters | Public Citizen | The Rootstrikers Project | Demand Progress | Consumer Action | Franciscan Action Network | Center for Biological Diversity | Every Voice | Wisconsin Democracy Campaign | Family Equality Council | End Citizens United | Food & Water Watch | US Student Association | National Center for Transgender Equality | Feminist Majority Foundation Clearinghouse on Women’s Issues | National Alliance of Black School Educators SEIU's Faculty Forward | Americans for Democratic Action | Money Out Voters In

More Information

To read the coalition letter, click here.

For more information, visit Generation Progress and Higher Ed, Not Debt.

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