Tuesday, January 31, 2017

McCaskill: I'm voting against Betsy DeVos

(From Sen. Claire McCaskill)

I was horrified while watching the confirmation hearing for Donald Trump’s nominee for education secretary, Betsy DeVos, and deeply troubled by Senate education committee’s action to advance her nomination this morning.

During her hearing, she refused to commit to protecting our students from campus sexual assault. She was wholly uninformed about laws that protect students with disabilities. And she was totally unprepared to address the prevalence of gun violence in our schools.

Most disturbing of all is what Betsy DeVos would mean for small towns and rural communities in my state – communities that rely on public education. Betsy DeVos never attended a public school. She’s never worked at a public school. She likes to talk about siphoning resources away from public schools so families have a “choice” – but in rural Missouri, good public schools are often the only choice families have. Our small towns don’t have the kinds of options available in urban centers.

If Betsy DeVos can’t commit to protecting all our students and giving them a safe and secure place to learn and grow, she doesn’t belong in that job. Period.

I’m voting against Betsy DeVos, and I need your help right now to make sure my colleagues do the same:

Add your name to tell the Senate: Don’t confirm Betsy DeVos!
Donald Trump promised to drain the swamp in Washington – this is not how you do it. I need you to join me in urging my colleagues in the Senate to vote “No” on Betsy DeVos.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hope Claire MyCashSheKills is retired in next election..

Anonymous said...

If only our state legislators and national representatives had a modicum of intelligence as shown by Senator McCaskill on these and other issues I would feel much better about our representation. She is showing good judgment and not merely following in her party politics, but showing how she cares about issues of national importance. We cannot continue to live in the past of the 1800's, but to move into the 21st century. What behooves me is that men even get to have a say into women's rights and how republicans are blocking Planned Parenthood funding as to their health and reproductive rights. Abortion is a touchy issue, but are these republican zealots going to step up and adopt or care for unwanted children of women who cannot obtain the proper methods of preventing unwanted children or who might be rape victims. What a bunch of Neanderthals.

Anonymous said...

What short memories we all have. Back in the day, the fact that abortion was illegal did not stop women from having abortions. What it did do was increase the medical risk for that procedure. When medical school dropouts provided abortions in less than sanitary conditions at high cost there was a pretty substantial number of major complications or death and the numbers were high, they just were not tracked or reported at the time. We now have a bunch of professional politicians attempting to overturn forty plus years of settled case law and it is starting to look like they might actually succeed. Women need to ban together and remove any politician who favors repeal from office. Remember that, in the final analysis, your vote is actually a demonstration of political violence and it needs to be channeled and applied to causes worth fighting for.

Anonymous said...

Many of the religious zealots believe that all forms of birth control other than abstinence are immoral.

They intend to ban most forms of birth control.



Anonymous said...

...And I'll be voting against YOU next year!

Anonymous said...

Betsy DeVos is in favor of dismantling the public education system that 99% of Missourians depend on for basic K-12 education for their children, especially in the rural counties. DeVos is a billionaire who has never attended public school, did not send her children to public school, has never worked or taught in a public school and wants to divert tax dollars from public to private school through a voucher system. This would be disastrous for a large part of the population of Missouri. Her confirmation will signal a sea-change in who gets a chance at a quality education, and the vast majority of students will be disadvantaged in favor of those who are more well-to-do.