Franken Opposes Betsy DeVos Nomination - Full Senate Floor Speech

Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) joins other Democratic Senators in an all-night marathon of speeches opposing Donald Trump's nominee for Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos. Some quotes from Franken's remarks as prepared for delivery: "Mrs. DeVos has no formal background in education, no classroom experience, and no demonstrated commitment to supporting public education whatsoever. "In fact, Mrs. DeVos has a long history of actively undermining public education. She and her family have spent millions of dollars advocating for an ideology that would steal funds from public schools in order to fund private and religious education." "But I’d like to close by asking a few questions of my colleagues who are still considering a vote in her favor. "If Mrs. DeVos’s performance didn’t convince you that she lacks the qualifications for this job, what would have had to happen in that hearing in order to convince you? "If you cannot bring yourself to vote against this nominee, is there anyone President Trump could nominate for any position who you could vote against? "And if we cannot set party loyalty aside long enough to perform the essential duty of vetting the President’s nominees, what are we even doing here? "Mr. President: The Constitution gives us that power to reject cabinet nominations specifically so that we can prevent fundamentally ill-equipped nominees like Betsy DeVos from assuming positions of power for which they are not qualified. "Let’s do our job."